Just three days after winning a third straight TSSAA Class 4A state championship, Kimora Fields topped off her junior season in a major way.
The Bradley Central two-time state tournament MVP won the TSSAA Miss Basketball Award as Fields was recognized as the top player in Class 4A during Tuesday’s Mr. and Miss Basketball ceremony at Tucker Theatre on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.
Fields shot better than 66% from the field this season while also making over 33% of her 3-point attempts and nearly 74% from the free-throw line. The 6-foot forward averaged 19.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.3 steals in just 21.4 minutes of playing time per game. Her dominant play in the post led the nation’s fourth-ranked Bearettes to a 35-1 record, which culminated with a 70-28 state title victory over Bartlett on Saturday.
“This past week has been the top for sure in my basketball career,” said Fields, who has over 10 Division I scholarship offers and has scored 2,055 points in her prep career. “I have really been on a high these past few days. To have all of my hard work pay off is so rewarding. I am surrounded by so many great people who support me.
“My mom does so much for me and has helped me travel and put in the extra hours. To win Miss Basketball is so rewarding for both of us and is just a great feeling.”
Staff photo by Patrick MacCoon / Bradley Central junior superstar Kimora Fields was named Class 4A’s Miss Basketball winner on Tuesday at MTSU’s Tucker Theatre. Fields became the first local girls’ basketball player to win the award since Madison Hayes in 2020.Fields set the TSSAA single-season record for field goal percentage as a sophomore at over 69%, while she flourished on the state’s largest stage by shooting 71.4% at the state tournament during her freshman and junior state tournament MVP showings.
She is the third player in Bearette history to win Miss Basketball, with Brittany Jackson Tucker winning the first in 2001 before going on to star at the University of Tennessee, while current Atlanta Dream superstar Rhyne Howard won the prestigious honor in 2018.
Fields has a chance next season to join East Hamilton’s Madison Hayes, Baylor’s Kaleigh Clemons, GPS’ Chadarryl Clay and Alana Smith, plus Meigs County’s Misty Greene and Rachel Powell as the only local players to win Miss Basketball two years in a row.
“With the eight seniors graduating, I am excited to be a leader and to influence the other girls,” Fields said. “We are always working to build and add on. I am going to keep setting goals for myself and working as hard as I can. I have grown up loving to watch A’ja Wilson play and one day want to play in the WNBA, too.”
McMinn Central senior Karina Bystry concluded her long list of prep accolades by earning Class 2A’s Miss Basketball award.
Bystry averaged over 27 points per game for the Chargerettes this season and is also the valedictorian of her class. She finished as the program’s all-time leading scorer with more than 2,600 career points and her 968 points in her senior campaign rank second-most in TSSAA girls’ basketball history for a single season.
The Chattanooga area had three other finalists for Mr. and Miss Basketball honors who did not win the award in their classification on Tuesday.
Chattanooga Christian School freshman phenom Momo Moore was a finalist for a second straight year in Division II-A. Moore averaged a state-best 30 points per game to go along with five assists, five rebounds and four steals per game. The 5-foot-7 guard shot 52% from the field and 39% from three. She is a top 25 freshman in the country according to espnW.
Looking to lead their respective teams to state championships this week in boys’ basketball, Tyner senior Rodney Henderson and Chattanooga Prep junior Derrick Roberson were also Mr. Basketball finalists. Henderson averages nearly 20 points per game to go along with six rebounds and four assists for the Rams, while Roberson averages 16 points, eight rebounds and over a block per game for the Sentinels.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.
Staff photo by Patrick MacCoon / Bradley Central junior superstar Kimora Fields was named Class 4A’s Miss Basketball winner on Tuesday at MTSU’s Tucker Theatre. Fields became the first local girls’ basketball player to win the award since Madison Hayes in 2020.