TN’s 1st Round 4A State Tournament Recaps and Insights

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Cleveland HS (24-9) 60</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Lincoln Count (25-10)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wow....what a win for Cleveland HS. For a team that had to go on the road to Blackman just to get to state, and now they hit the floor in round one and took a game home, and how find themselves in the 4A Final Four!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Cleveland, they came out of the gates hot, as Lincoln tried to pack in their zone, and take [player_tooltip player_id='409019' first='Lauren' last='Hurst'] '25 away. At the end of the first quarter it was 21-12 Cleveland, and at the half it was 31-23.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Hurst still got what she wanted as she scored 20 points (6-11 FG, 7-7 FTs), 3 assists, a block and a steal. A 20 and 11 on the big stage is a huge deal! She proved (if she had anything else to prove) exactly how good she was in this one.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When the Lincoln Co defenders began cheating into help too much, Cleveland threw some beautiful skip passes to free up shooters. [player_tooltip player_id='804739' first='Callie' last='Brewer'] continued her nice play of late scoring 10 points, on 4-8 shooting and 2-4 from three, and 3 rebounds. [player_tooltip player_id='899415' first='Ilianis' last='Rodriguez'], who was all Region Tournament, also continued her hot play with 10 points on 3-7 shooting and 2-5 from three, with 4 rebounds.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='810500' first='Emma' last='Smith'] '25 was held to only four points, on no made threes. Really nice when you when a game at state and your 2nd leading scorer is held to 4. [player_tooltip player_id='409092' first='Tamiah' last='Tanner'] had 6 points on 2-3 from three. Freshman [player_tooltip player_id='821777' first='Emily' last='Patterson'] came off the bench and had 6 points, 10 rebounds! Fellow freshman [player_tooltip player_id='811495' first='Laney' last='Copeland'] finished with 2.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cleveland shot 48% from the floor, and 37% from three, and 11-14 from the FT line. They came ready to play!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Lincoln, it was just tough from the get go. [player_tooltip player_id='496294' first='Abby' last='Bryan'] was the empahasis of the Cleveland gameplan, and they did a great job taking her away. She was held to 11 points and 8 rebound on 4-15 shooting. Bryan had a phenomenal season, but tonight just wasn't her night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='810533' first='Alyssa' last='Petty'] was fantastic as she scored 16 points on 6-13 shooting, and 1-4 from three, but only 3-10 from the FT line. She also had 4 rebounds. [player_tooltip player_id='506248' first='Molly' last='Brown'] had an off night as Lincoln's second best player. She was held to 5 points on 2-11 shooting. Allie Booner had 6. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For the game Lincoln shot 30% from the floor, 21% from 3, and 8-19 from the FT line.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Barlett HS (29-10) 54</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sevier County HS (31-4) 42</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I was super anxious to see this matchup because of the idea of current playoff culture vs old playoff culture. What I mean is--Bartlett is a winning program. I'm pretty sure they have season passes to the Marriot outside the Glass House every March 6-9th.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>So in this game, Bartlett has been up and down in the regular season, and Sevier County has simply been dominant. But as I my preview....how can you bet against a Bartlett team that has been here before.....many times.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>And Bartlett took home the win...but it was a tough one! After 1 quarter Sevier was up 15-9. A 12-8 Bartlett 2nd quarter made the halftime score Servier 23 - Bartlett 21. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 2nd half, however, was all Bartlett as they won the 3rd quarter 13-9, and the 4th 20-10. Bartlett shot 50% from the floor, but was only 2-8 from three. It's really hard to win playoff games only hitting 2 threes....but it's Bartlett. Bartlett did shoot 23 FTs, hitting only 14. Sevier County shot 29% from the floor, 15% from 3 (2-13), and 12-22 from the FT line.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Sevier, they had some really nice individual performances. [player_tooltip player_id='877807' first='Kinley' last='Loveday'] had 11 points on 3-13 shooting. [player_tooltip player_id='290720' first='Aubree' last='Laney'] had 9 points but fouled out. [player_tooltip player_id='631090' first='Cybil' last='Penland'] 9 points 4 rebounds. [player_tooltip player_id='821733' first='Kaliyah' last='Burden'] had 4 points, 11 rebound, 3 steals and a 1 block. I cannot wait to watch the jump Burden makes next season!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Bartlett, [player_tooltip player_id='290717' first='Carrington' last='Jones'] continues to be a verision of Superwoman. She had 20 points on 9-17 shooting (no 3s attempted!), and 6 steals. [player_tooltip player_id='409005' first='Zoey' last='Rixter'] was dominant with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, and an incredibly 14 FT attempts. She's a LEGIT D1 kid. [player_tooltip player_id='625399' first='Morgan' last='Williams'] had 8 points on 2-5 from three. [player_tooltip player_id='631095' first='Dacarra' last='Ward'] had 3 points 6 rebounds. Samilya Jones had 8 points (4-4 shooting) and 7 boards. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This Bartlett team is tough, and with [player_tooltip player_id='625399' first='Morgan' last='Williams'] knocking down threes they have at least one floor spacer.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Batlett and Cleveland are now set for a matchup on Friday. Again....I can't bet against Bartlett's institutional history of success....but this Cleveland team is HOT!!!!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations":"","_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-65e905a23c717"} /--> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations":"","_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-65e905a23c746"} /--> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Coffee County (34-3) 48</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dobyns Bennett (24-9) 39</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Coffee County jumped all over Dobyns Bennett from the jump. Coffee was up 22-9 at the end of 1, and 32-20 after the half. Dobyns Bennett cut it 7 after 3, but Coffee knocked down big shots and FTs at the end of the game to seal it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Coffee shot 43% from the floor, and only 30% from three (3-10), BUT they also went 21-23 from the FT line --and that will make up for a poor shooting night. DB shot 40% from the floor, 37% from three (7-19), but only attempted 5 FTs )2-5. A 23 to 5 FT disparity is.....something.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Dobyns Bennett, [player_tooltip player_id='245376' first='Kaydence' last='Black'] had 11 points with 3 made threes, and 4 assists. Caroline Hill finished with 11 points, and 3 rebounds on 4-12 shooting. Freshman Sallie McReynolds finished a great year with 6 rebounds (2-5 from the floor, 1-3 from 3), 2 rebounds and block.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Coffee, they had 18 points on 6-9 shooting from [player_tooltip player_id='514120' first='Natalie' last='Barnes']. [player_tooltip player_id='409035' first='Channah' last='Gannon'] looks ready to dominate the playoffs with an easy 12 point, 7 rebound, 3 block performance. [player_tooltip player_id='361741' first='Olivia' last='Vinson'] had 7 points on 2-7 shooting. Freshman Jules Ferrel had 6 points, 3 assists, and 4 rebounds.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:acf/evaluation-block {"name":"acf/evaluation-block","data":{"player_evaluations":"","_player_evaluations":"field_62aba7547dc44"},"mode":"edit","alignText":"left","anchor":"acf-block-65e905a23c763"} /--> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Bradley Central (32-1) 62</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Clarksville (31-1) 30</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bradley Central is the cream of the crop in 4A (they are actually nationally ranked...so maybe they are also cream of the crop in the entire country). I was excited to see undefeated Clarksville draw Bradley....but Bradley didn't seem to notice Clarksville's undefeated recored as they dominated this one.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bradley Central came out with a 17-6 1st quarter lead, and a 39-11 halftime lead. Bradley outscored Clarksville 13-8 in the 3rd, and 10-5 in the 4th. Bradley shot 43% from the field, 27% from three, 66% from the FT line. Clarksville was held to 23% from the field, 18% from three, and 60% from the line.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Clarksville, [player_tooltip player_id='245352' first='Imari' last='Berry'] was held to 5-20 from the floor, 3-12 from the 3, and 14 points and 5 rebounds. After Berry, the Clarksville offensive really struggled (Berry hit 5 of their 9 total field goals). [player_tooltip player_id='810489' first='Malon' last='Smith'] had 5 points, but fouled out. [player_tooltip player_id='804736' first='Ella' last='Moore'] had 5 points.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>For Bradley, [player_tooltip player_id='513228' first='Kimora' last='Fields'] had a 22 point, 13 rebound double-double. [player_tooltip player_id='290719' first='Harmonie' last='Ware'] continued her terrific play with 14 points (6-10 from the field) and 9 boards. Tatianna Stovall had 8 points and 7 rebounds. [player_tooltip player_id='409074' first='Avary' last='Brewer'] had 9 points. [player_tooltip player_id='889803' first='Malia' last='Wilcox'] had 2 points and 5 assists. [player_tooltip player_id='899882' first='Addie' last='Geren'] had 9 points on 3-4 from three (SHOOOOOOTER!!!!)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bradley Central will now face Coffee County on Friday.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->