TSSAA girls basketball state tournament roundup: Bradley Central, Coffee County roll into semifinals

MURFREESBORO — The TSSAA girls basketball state tournament got under way Wednesday morning at Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State.

Here is a roundup from action in Class 1A and 4A from Wednesday's quarterfinal games.

Class 4A

Bradley Central 62, Clarksville 30: No. 1-ranked Bradley Central's bid for a state title repeat remained on course after it made quick work of Clarksville in Wednesday's quarterfinal. Both teams returned to the state tournament but it was all Lady Bears from the jump.

Bradley Central (32-1) will face Coffee County in the semifinals at 11 a.m. Friday. Kimora Fields led Bradley Central with 22 points and 13 rebounds while Harmonie Ware added 14 points and nine boards against the Lady Wildcats. It was the 18th straight win for Bradley Central that searching for the program's eighth state title.

Clarksville was led by Miss Basketball finalist and Clemson signee Imari Berry, who finished with 14 points. The Lady Wildcats lost to Green Hill in the quarterfinal of last year's tournament.

Coffee County 48, Dobyns-Bennett 39: Coffee County won its first TSSAA state tournament game since winning a state championship in 1993. The Red Raiders beat Dobyns-Bennett as Natalie Barnes, a sophomore, led Coffee County with 18 points. Teammate Channah Gannon had 12 and Olivia Vinson finished with seven.

Coffee County (34-3) hasn't lost since late December, capturing the District 9 regular season title without a loss, the tournament championship and the Region 5 title.

Dobyns-Bennett's Caroline Hill and Kaydence Black scored 11 apiece.

Cleveland 60, Lincoln County 44: Cleveland was convincing in its 16-point win over Lincoln County to advance to the state semifinals where they will play Bartlett at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

Cleveland (24-9) led for over 29 minutes of the game but they were tested in the third quarter when Lincoln County worked themselves back to within two points. Lauren Hurst led the Blue Raiders as they reestablished a comfortable lead, finishing with 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting, while also going 7-for-7 from the stripe.

Alyssa Petty led the comeback attempt for Lincoln County in the third, finishing with a team high 16 points while Abby Bryan added 11 points on 4-for-15 shooting.

Bartlett 54, Sevier County 42: It took some time but Bartlett overcame two-point halftime deficit to knock off Sevier County in the 4A quarterfinal. Bartlett overcame 13 first-half turnovers, including 10 in the first quarter.

Bartlett is 3-1 over the past two seasons in the state tournament. Carrington Jones scored a game-high 20 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field to pace Bartlett (29-10). Zoey Rixter added 13 points.

Kinley Loveday led Sevier County (31-4) with 11 points whose six-game win streak was snapped. Sevier County had won 25 of its last 26 games entering Wednesday's tournament.

Class 1A

Wayne County 61, South Fulton 40: The reigning Miss Basketball winner, Blair Baugus, had 24 points, 15 rebounds and six blocks to lead the Lady Wildcats past South Fulton in the Class 1A quarterfinals.

The Lady Red Devils made life difficult for the two-time state runner-up but Wayne County used a 27-13 second half to put the game away. Jacqueline Keaton added 11 points and six steals as Wayne County shot 57.4% from the field.

Wayne County (31-3) will face Pickett County at 2:!5 p.m. Friday.

South Fulton was led by Anna Gore who finished with 18 points.

Pickett County 54, Cloudland 31: Pickett County had little trouble with Cloudland, pulling away in the second quarter and never looking back. The Lady Bobcats improved to 27-2.

Emmy Lowe led the way with 23 points and was 9-of-15 from the field as Pickett County shot 55% from the field. It scored 17 points off Cloudland turnovers and outscored Cloudland 21-10 in the second period. Zoey Nicholas finished with 13 points and six assists.

Cloudland was led by MaKinna Shell who had 13 points. Izabella Christman had five points and 10 rebounds but the Highlanders had only 12 points in the entire second half.

Moore County 58, Clay County 55 (OT): Moore County watched Clay County's final 3-pointer miss the mark as the Lady Raiders survived in overtime to advance to the 1A semifinal.

Clay County's Madison Hayes drilled a 3-pointer with over 8 seconds left to cut Moore County's lead to 56-55. After Moore County's Elle Graham knocked down both free-throws with five seconds left, Clay County's Bella Ashlock heaved a shot just behind the 3 line that missed to the left of the basket.

Moore County (26-8) will face Greenfield at 12:45 p.m. Friday in the semifinal. Katie Fletcher led Moore County with 21 points and was 3-for-6 from behind the arc. Graham added 17 points and Madison Dingler finished with 15 points.

Clay County was led by Halle Buford who had 18 points. Ashlock added 13 in the loss.

Greenfield 55, North Greene 49: Rayanna Fisher had 21 points, including 9-of-10 from the foul line as Greenfield advanced to the Class 1A semifinal with a 55-49 win over North Greene at Murphy Center.

Emma Alford added 12 points and seven rebounds while Anastyn Vujicic added 11 points. The Lady Jackets (23-10) had to hold off North Greene's repeated attempt to take the lead. The game was briefly tied at 20 late in the second quarter but the Huskies could never get over the hump.

Miss Basketball finalist, Haley Bailey, led North Greene with 18 points and 10 rebounds, including four offensive rebounds. Greenfield scored 16 points off 15 North Green turnovers.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: TSSAA basketball: Wednesday's girls state tournament roundup