TN’s 1st Round 4A State Tournament Recaps and Insights
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Cleveland HS (24-9) 60 Lincoln Count (25-10) 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…
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Continue ReadingCleveland HS (24-9) 60
Lincoln Count (25-10)
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!
For Cleveland, they came out of the gates hot, as Lincoln tried to pack in their zone, and take Lauren Hurst Lauren Hurst 6'3" | PF Cleveland | 2025 State TN ’25 away. At the end of the first quarter it was 21-12 Cleveland, and at the half it was 31-23.
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.
When the Lincoln Co defenders began cheating into help too much, Cleveland threw some beautiful skip passes to free up shooters. Callie Brewer Callie Brewer 5'9" | SF Cleveland | 2024 State TN continued her nice play of late scoring 10 points, on 4-8 shooting and 2-4 from three, and 3 rebounds. Ilianis Rodriguez Ilianis Rodriguez 5'5" | PG Cleveland | 2026 TN , 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.
Emma Smith Emma Smith 5'8" | SG Cleveland | 2025 State TN ’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. Tamiah Tanner Tamiah Tanner 5'8" | SF Cleveland | 2025 State TN had 6 points on 2-3 from three. Freshman Emily Patterson Emily Patterson 5'11" | PF Cleveland | 2027 TN came off the bench and had 6 points, 10 rebounds! Fellow freshman Laney Copeland Laney Copeland 5'5" | CG Cleveland | 2027 TN finished with 2.
Cleveland shot 48% from the floor, and 37% from three, and 11-14 from the FT line. They came ready to play!
For Lincoln, it was just tough from the get go. Abby Bryan Abby Bryan 5'10" | SF Lincoln County | 2025 State TN 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.
Alyssa Petty Alyssa Petty 5'10" | SF Lincoln Co. | 2025 State TN 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. Molly Brown Molly Brown 5'8" | SG Lincoln Co. | 2025 State TN had an off night as Lincoln’s second best player. She was held to 5 points on 2-11 shooting. Allie Booner had 6.
For the game Lincoln shot 30% from the floor, 21% from 3, and 8-19 from the FT line.
Barlett HS (29-10) 54
Sevier County HS (31-4) 42
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.
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.
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.
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.
For Sevier, they had some really nice individual performances. Kinley Loveday Kinley Loveday 5'2" | PG Sevier Co. | 2024 State TN had 11 points on 3-13 shooting. Aubree Laney Aubree Laney 5'8" | SF Lakeway Christian Academy | 2024 State TN had 9 points but fouled out. Cybil Penland Cybil Penland 5'10" | SG Sevier Co. | 2025 State TN 9 points 4 rebounds. Kaliyah Burden Kaliyah Burden 5'8" | SG Sevier Co. | 2027 TN had 4 points, 11 rebound, 3 steals and a 1 block. I cannot wait to watch the jump Burden makes next season!
For Bartlett, Carrington Jones Carrington Jones 5'8" | CG Bartlett | 2024 State TN continues to be a verision of Superwoman. She had 20 points on 9-17 shooting (no 3s attempted!), and 6 steals. Zoey Rixter Zoey Rixter 6'1" | SG Bartlett | 2025 State TN was dominant with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks, and an incredibly 14 FT attempts. She’s a LEGIT D1 kid. Morgan Williams Morgan Williams 5'6" | PG Bartlett | 2024 State TN had 8 points on 2-5 from three. Dacarra Ward Dacarra Ward 6'2" | C Bartlett | 2025 State TN had 3 points 6 rebounds. Samilya Jones had 8 points (4-4 shooting) and 7 boards.
This Bartlett team is tough, and with Morgan Williams Morgan Williams 5'6" | PG Bartlett | 2024 State TN knocking down threes they have at least one floor spacer.
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!!!!
Coffee County (34-3) 48
Dobyns Bennett (24-9) 39
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.
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.
For Dobyns Bennett, Kaydence Black Kaydence Black 5'8" | SF Dobyns-Bennett | 2024 State TN 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.
For Coffee, they had 18 points on 6-9 shooting from Natalie Barnes Natalie Barnes 5'7" | SG Coffee Co. | 2026 State TN . Channah Gannon Channah Gannon 6'0" | PF Coffee Co. | 2025 State TN looks ready to dominate the playoffs with an easy 12 point, 7 rebound, 3 block performance. Olivia Vinson Olivia Vinson 5'11" | SG Coffee Co. | 2025 State TN had 7 points on 2-7 shooting. Freshman Jules Ferrel had 6 points, 3 assists, and 4 rebounds.
Bradley Central (32-1) 62
Clarksville (31-1) 30
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.
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.
For Clarksville, Imari Berry Imari Berry 5'10" | SG Clarksville | 2024 State TN 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). Malon Smith Malon Smith 5'6" | CG Clarksville | 2025 State TN had 5 points, but fouled out. Ella Moore Ella Moore 6'1" | PF Clarksville | 2024 State TN had 5 points.
For Bradley, Kimora Fields Kimora Fields 6'2" | PF Bradley Central | 2026 State TN had a 22 point, 13 rebound double-double. Harmonie Ware Harmonie Ware 5'9" | SG Bradley Central | 2025 State TN continued her terrific play with 14 points (6-10 from the field) and 9 boards. Tatianna Stovall had 8 points and 7 rebounds. Avary Brewer Avary Brewer 5'7" | PG Bradley Central | 2025 State TN had 9 points. Malia Wilcox had 2 points and 5 assists. Addie Geren Addie Geren 5'9" | SF Bradley Central | 2026 TN had 9 points on 3-4 from three (SHOOOOOOTER!!!!)
Bradley Central will now face Coffee County on Friday.