In 1974, Carly Simon was singing about the Mockingbird, Mia Farrow was falling for Robert Redford’s Gatsby on the big screen, and the local drive-in was probably full of Camaros, TransAms and GTOs.  

McNairy Central High School, the “Super School” on the hill, was still finding its way after the merging of multiple smaller county schools just five years earlier.  They had already made a splash as a state competitor. The sport?  Girls Basketball.

During those years, girls basketball was played “3 on 3”, with 3 offensive and 3 defensive players on each end.  Players could not cross the center line, but had to pass the ball to one of their teammates and then stop. Every jump ball was actually jumped for, and the referee would grab the ball after a made basket, then toss it to another referee standing at midcourt.  The offensive players would throw the ball in from that point.  Fouls were possible on either end, though obviously the defensive end racked up the numbers more quickly, while the offensive end were the only girls who scored.

The Lady Cats basketball team made it to the final eight in the spring of 1971, just two years into the school’s operation. They played South Green High School, an East TN team, in their first game, winning 52-47.  They lost the following game 60-55 to Lebanon High School. Lebanon went on to win the title the next day.

The ladies suffered the same fate in 1972, losing 53-47 to Marshall County; Marshall won the championship title two days later.

In 1972-73, Jimmy “Lefty” Skelton and Mike Cain took over the program and shared the head coaching responsibilities, with Skelton covering offense while Cain handled defense. The pair had joined the faculty to coach the boy’s team, but were moved to oversee the girls program that year for reasons that are still a topic of debate. The girls lost their 1973 state bid to Warren County 47-43 in game one.  Warren County lost the championship title by only 2 points to Bradley Central the following day.  

Note the very close scores in each of these games during those years, which were between the top eight schools in the state.  That included schools of all enrollment sizes, as there was only one division. The 1973 tourney was the first year the schools were divided into “Large” and “Small” classes, with MCHS playing in the Large division.  

In 1974, the Lady Cats made it to the final eight for the fourth year in a row.  MCHS entered the tourney with a record of 27-2.  The games were played at the Jackson Coliseum, now known as the Oman Arena, over the three day span of March 20-22.  

On Wednesday, the Lady Cats defeated Bradley Central 59-54.  Scoring for the team were Marilyn Gilchrist 25, Belinda Brown 22, and Lisa Kinchen 12.  On Thursday, they defeated Marshall County 47-39. Gilchrist scored 30, Brown 7 and Kinchen 9.  Both of these games were played at 9:00 pm, with the team traveling home after the game and going to school the next day. Those visiting teams from Middle and East Tennessee were staying in local hotels for the duration.

Friday night saw the Lady Cats playing against the Lady Eagles of Shelbyville Central for the championship, the first opportunity in school history.  The game was again played at 9:00 pm. 

“We ended up playing the worst team there for the championship,” said Cain.  “The teams we’d already played (Bradley and Marshall), along with us, were the top 3 ranked teams coming in. Shelbyville had the lowest ranking there.”  

The Lady Cats were “leading by 11-12 points in the second quarter,” said Cain.  “Coach Skelton made the decision to slow the game down in the second half. Marilyn (Gilchrist) had two fouls and he was trying to keep her from fouling out.”  With the girls already being tired, it may have taken “the wind out of their sails” somewhat, as the Lady Eagles caught up in the third quarter.  With a one point lead and less than 20 seconds left to play, Shelbyville’s Jan Zitney hit two free throws to clinch the win.  Gilchrist scored 30, Brown had 12, and Kinchen hit 5.  The final score was 50-47.

“We should have won that game,” said Cain.  “I believe the girls were just tired, with all the traveling, playing and still going to school. We were definitely the better team.” MCHS had 27-2 record entering the tourney, Shelbyville was at 26-6. 

The starting defensive team was made up of Rosie Baxter, Anita Smith, and Pam Rinehart. 

Marilyn Gilchrist (offense) and Rosie Baxter (defense) were each named to the All Tournament team, with only six being named overall.  

Cain decided to go back to school to work on his master’s degree, but returned to work with the freshman girls when Jerry Lott took over as Varsity Girl’s coach in 1977.  Lott had been coaching both boys and girls’ freshman teams until that point.  The TSSAA introduced the divisions as we now know them - A, AA, and AAA - in 1976, and switched to 5-on-5 play for girls in 1978.  This was an effort to level out the wide gap that existed in each former class, trying to balance out the school enrollment levels.

The Lady Cats have played in some substate, quarter finals and semifinals games since then, but have not reached the championship game since that 1974 tourney.  

We have footage of the second half of the championship game, starting a couple of minutes into the third quarter.  Thanks to Belinda Brown (Shelton) for the video, and to Christopher Moore for digitizing it.  Check it out on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/mcnairycentralhighschool.

We invite all of the 1974 team players and coaches to return to the Roundhouse for a special recognition on Saturday, January 27th.  The team will be recognized between the games, at approximately 5:15.  Players can check in at the gate for free admission.  This will also be our Homecoming game, as we host Lexington starting with the varsity boys at 4:00 and varsity girls at 5:30.  Homecoming festivities will begin at 3:30.

1974 TEAM ROSTER

FRONT  Liz Lambert, Cheryl Henley, Anita Smith, Lora Jean Beck, Belinda Brown, Jan Gilbert, Kathy Johnson

BACK  MGR Lynn Smallwood, Angie Baker, Marilyn Gilchrist, Yvette Baldridge, Kathy Moore, Coach Lefty Skelton, Coach Mike Cain, Pam Rinehart, Rosie Baxter, Cassandra Atkins, Lisa Kinchen, MGR Charlotte Jernigan