Club Shred

Maryville/Heritage a “Girls & Women in Sports” classic

Maryville senior and 2020 Miss Basketball finalist Denae Fritz, far right, catches a breather during last week’s game at rival Heritage. Fritz, an Iowa State signee, is within striking distance of 2,000 career points.

By Stefan Cooper
Editor
Blount Press Row

Feb. 3 marked the 35th Annual National Girls & Women in Sports Day, and this was the perfect game to show why that matters.

Back at Alcoa in the mid 1970s, girls high school basketball in Tennessee, and everywhere else, for that matter, was a starkly different thing. Under 6-on-6 rules, each team got three guards and three forwards. Neither trio could cross halfcourt. Only forwards could shoot. You got two dribbles, and you had to pass or shoot the ball.