Lesley Riddle takes Livingston Academy basketball from 'embarrassing' to TSSAA state runner-up

George Robinson, Nashville Tennessean

March 12, 2023 at 5:30 PM·3 min read

MURFREESBORO ‒ It's just personal for Livingston Academy coach Lesley Riddle.

This Lady Wildcats team is like her child. Not many know the time she spends with it, caring for it, trying to nurture it. Few feel as strongly about it than Riddle.

The 22-year coaching veteran choked up talking about her players and their experience this year just after Livingston Academy's 62-52 Class 3A TSSAA girls basketball state championship loss to Jackson South Side on Saturday at Middle Tennessee State's Murphy Center.

LIVINGSTON ACADEMYHow Livingston Academy moms share state championship legacy

"It does mean a lot," Riddle said. "I'm deeply connected to this program. These girls mean so much to me. This community means so much to me. To see them up there in the stands and the love they showed this program has meant everything."

Riddle walked into her postgame interview session with her four all-tournament players, including sophomore Ellie Butler, who had a game-high 26 points for the Lady Wildcats (29-8). Riddle fought back tears for three seniors, Bailey Allred, Halle Ledbetter and Aleah Melton. The thought of losing three cornerstones to the Lady Wildcats' re-emergence on the state stage was almost overwhelming.

"For a team that started a preseason prediction of being fourth in our district, it's pretty good to have a state tournament silver ball," Riddle said. "It's really hard, right now, to be proud of it but as the years past, they will be."

Riddle has been through the best of times with the program and its toughest. She was also a part of the program's first state championship team in 1990 as a player. She returned as its coach in 2001 and that first year won 28 games. Her second year, the Lady Wildcats captured the Class 2A state title over McMinn Central.

"This is my baby," Riddle said. "I couldn't wait to get back home to coach. I can't explain it. I'm so proud of our baby."

Livingston players cheer after their team scored during the TSSAA BlueCross Girls’ Basketball Championship Class 3A championship game between Livingston Academy and South Side in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on Saturday, March 11, 2023.

In Riddle's first 14 seasons, Livingston Academy won 370 games and averaged 26 wins a season. But the program also suffered three straight losing seasons, none tougher than the 2018-19 season when the Lady Wildcats were 9-22. They followed up that season with a 14-16 campaign in 2020.

"I told them also, in the locker room, there were some dark times in the past," said Riddle, who has more than 650 career wins. "All three of these seniors have lived through a losing season and the underclassmen don't really understand but it was embarrassing. You walked out with a Livingston Academy jersey on, and it didn't mean anything.

"But it does again."

Through much of the 1990s, Livingston Academy was winning, or at least playing for, state championships. It won titles in 1990, 1994 and 1999 and was runner-up in 1993, '96 and '98. Riddle signed with Vanderbilt and was part of the Commodores 1993 Final Four team

Riddle scored over 1,600 points in her high school career at Livingston Academy and had 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists in the 1990 title game. She pulled the program out of the slide last year with 20 wins in a district that includes York Institute and Upperman — perennial state tournament teams.

"It's been a very grueling process," Melton said. "It's a lot of 'trust-the-process' at times. It's rewarding to be here. I mean I'm upset we lost but in hindsight, we got here. A bunch of teams wish they could've been here. So I'm super proud of the progress we've made from freshman year to now."

And at the center is a coach who spent eight years as the school's principal and says she'll "always bleed blue".

Reach sports writer George Robinson at grobinson@gannett.com and on Twitter @Cville_Sports.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Livingston Academy basketball, Lesley Riddle finish TSSAA runner-up

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