Tennessee's AA State Tournament First Round: Recaps and Analysis

York Institute (26-5) 66   McMinn Central (31-5) 63   I wasn't excited to see this game pop up on the bracket because I thought that both these two teams could have just as easily met in the championship game. Instead, we got a first round, OT classic with York, and the heroics of Reese "Big Game" Beaty, to move onto the Final Four.   [player_tooltip player_id='408995' first='Reese' last='Beaty'] was the star of stars. She scored 33 points on 14-21!!!! shooting, with 5 rebounds, 6 assists and two steals. She may have all but cemented her case for Miss Basketball with this performance.   [player_tooltip player_id='746202' first='Emma' last='Cooper'] had 10 points, 5-6 from the field, 4 rebounds, and 4 steals. [player_tooltip player_id='816611' first='Raylee' last='Werner'] scored 9 points, on 4-6 shooting, 4 rebounds and 3 assists. [player_tooltip player_id='816715' first='Emma' last='Pile'] had 6 points 5 rebounds. [player_tooltip player_id='1230579' first='Cali' last='Franklin'] had 8 points. [player_tooltip player_id='831251' first='Zoe' last='Gibson'] was the 6th player to play for York, and gave really nice minutes in their 6 girls postseason rotation.   For McMinn Central, they played a nice game! It just wasn't enough. [player_tooltip player_id='245358' first='Molly' last='Masingale']'s final game was a really nice one: 26 points on 9-16 shooting, 6-8 from three, 8 rebounds, 3 assists and a block. Masingale goes down as the 2nd all time leading scorer in one of the historically most winning programs in the state. Well done young lady.   [player_tooltip player_id='409633' first='Karina' last='Bystry'] had 23 points, on 5-15 shooting, 2-8 from three, 6 rebounds, 3 assists. [player_tooltip player_id='245379' first='Maddox' last='Mayfield'] 4 points. Reagan Baker 4 points and 6 rebounds.   This was a game that York shot 62% from the field (28-45)!!!! And, they were 8-9 in OT. This team was simply not going to lose this basketball game, and now York advances to the Final Four.   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   Gibson County (36-1) 58   Huntingdon (28-6) 49   This was a game differentiated by 12 minutes. The 1st and 4th periods were basically played to ties, but Gibson County won the 2nd and 3rd quarter by a combined 10....and that was the ball game. Now Gibson will face the York and the Beaty Buckets on Saturday.   Gibson's best player all year, and a player that simply hasn't gotten enough coverage from me, has been Micah Heart. She scored 27 points on 9-16 shooting, with two made threes. She also went to the free throw line eleven times (7-11), had 6 rebounds, and 6 steals. Micah Heart is a LEGIT Ms. Basketball candidate....and Hart vs Beaty will be a good one Saturday.   Maya Davis had 13 points and 7 boards. [player_tooltip player_id='636392' first='Sania' last='Reaves'] had 8 points, 14 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block. Kailey Davidson added six.   For Huntingdon, their season comes to an end after winning almost 30 games. [player_tooltip player_id='1106847' first='Quinn' last='Kelley'] had 15 points on five made threes. [player_tooltip player_id='624614' first='Lilly' last='Kee'] had 15 points and 8 rebounds. Delany Byars had 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists. Josey Stokes had 5 rebounds and 4 assists.   Neither team shot particularly well in this game from the floor, but Gibson did shoot 13 more free throws (9-12 vs 19-25) as they were definately aggressive attacking the rim.   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   Gatlinburg-Pittman (35-3) 54   Smith County (22-12) 46   I didn't give Smith County much of a chance in this one, but they did a terrific job hanging around in this matchup. GP was up 10 at the half, but Smith cut it to 5 in the fourth.   [player_tooltip player_id='245364' first='Maddy' last='Newman'] was the difference. She has 21 points on 8-13 shooting, 10 rebounds, and 3 assists. [player_tooltip player_id='513232' first='Nya' last='Burns'] had 7 points, 2 assists, 6 rebounds, and 4 steals. [player_tooltip player_id='877998' first='Leah' last='Stinnett'] had 10 points. [player_tooltip player_id='435647' first='Maliyah' last='Glasper'] finished with 7 points and 3 rebounds. Addison Wear finished with 3 points and a made three. [player_tooltip player_id='801352' first='Chloe' last='Mejias'] had 7 rebounds.   For Smtih County, Airyan Enoch had 15 points on 6-11 shooting. [player_tooltip player_id='1094290' first='Chloe' last='Collins'] had 11 points and 10 rebounds with a huge double double. Merissa Spivey also almost had a double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds. Emry Overstreet had 9 points, 3 assists, and 2 steals.   In three AA games today, it's been the tale of Miss Basketballers. [player_tooltip player_id='408995' first='Reese' last='Beaty'] 33 points; [player_tooltip player_id='290939' first='Micah' last='Hart'] 27 points, and [player_tooltip player_id='245364' first='Maddy' last='Newman'] had 21 and 10. Everyone wants to see the top teams still standing at the end of the season, and its often more entertaining if there is are stars still playing as well.   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   Loretto (27-3) 54   Westview (22-5) 49   I watched Westview's suffocating, extended 2-3 zone last year, and I LOVED it. I'm a man to man defensive coach, but it was one of the best 2-3 zones I've seen exectuted at the high school leve, and thats why they won a state championship. Fast forward a year and Westview is less talented, but still has the culture in place to make a deep run.   McCall Simms is stinkin good for Westview. She had 20 points on 8-14 shooting with 2 made threes. Westview's individual talent was really high outside of Simms too. [player_tooltip player_id='890243' first='Halle' last='Trevathan'] finished with 11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 made threes. [player_tooltip player_id='290724' first='Kylee' last='Alexander'] had 11 points as well with 2 made threes. Lakelyn Rogers had 3.   Westview had every chance to win this game. They shot 50% from the floor and hit eight threes. That's a recipe for a Westiview victory....but Loretto had other plans.   [player_tooltip player_id='409003' first='Ally' last='Weathers'] led Loretto with 15 points on 5-10 shooting. But in this game, she proved to be more than just a scorer. She did everything....she had 6 rebounds and 6 assists. She played a wonderful game (and played all 32 minutes). [player_tooltip player_id='290977' first='Jenny' last='Clifton'] got hot and stayed hot to the tune of 12 points, 4-8 from the floor and 3-7 from three. [player_tooltip player_id='878066' first='Emily' last='Cozart'] had 12 points on 4-6 shooting, 2-4 from 3, and 7 rebounds. Sophi Weathers had 6 points. Libby Sander had 5 on 2-3 shooting and a made three pointer.   Now, our AA Final Four has 4 powerhouses with 4 stars:   Hart and Gibson vs Beaty and York   Newman and GP vs Weathers and Loretto   The stage is set for an incredibly compelling AA Final Four.

York Institute (26-5) 66