Middleton earns first state trip since 2010
MIDDLETON – An injury to key forward Deja Faulkner was a Christmas bummer, and a close game last week against Riverside was a challenge that reinforced the difficulty of beating good teams and maintaining winning streaks. There were moments when Middleton looked beatable.
But through the 2014-15 season, there’s been a hope this Middleton team was different. Fans passed celebratory orange T-shirts around the stands in the final minutes of Monday’s sectional, their faith rewarded.
Middleton will take a 32-0 record to the state tournament after a 59-40 sectional win over Dresden that stopped the Lady Lions one step short of a Murfreesboro return.
In Middleton’s first trip to the state tournament since 2010, the Lady Tigers will play Pickett County at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“As far as winning all the ballgames, I told them in the beginning of the year if we play good defense [and] stick together, every game on the schedule we’ll have an opportunity,” Middleton coach James Burkley said.
Playing in front of a capacity crowd in their small gym, the host Lady Tigers took control by outscoring Dresden 17-4 in the second quarter.
Sophomore forward Chelsey Perry led Middleton with 14 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and three steals.
“I knew I could do it because my team pushes me to strive to get better and do more things,” Perry said.
She and Dakedra Mason helped keep Dresden players from scoring at the rim.
“One thing I told her in the beginning of the year, especially when Deja went down, you’re going to have to fill that spot offensively and defensively,” Burkley said of Perry. “So she did a pretty good job of it.”
Averyale Joy scored 13 points for Middleton. Alexis Pledge and Rachelle Parks each had 11, and Mason scored 10.
“We’ve played one or two other teams that were like this athletically, but they didn’t work this hard,” Dresden coach Jonathan West said.
Dresden junior guard Jacqueline Ellis scored 21 points, 16 of them in the second half. Millie Bryant scored six.
Carrie Hatchel and Alex Sledd each scored four, Hailey Browning three and Kayla Hayes two.
Burkley said he wanted to keep pressure on Hatchel and the other Dresden ball handlers as much as possible and his players did so effectively.
Dresden (23-11) was 6-6 at Christmas and lost a couple blowouts soon after before getting a couple players healthy and turning an ugly season into an exciting one.
“We said we could go one of two ways,” West recalled. “We can rise up or we can tuck our heads and end up having a terrible year. We kept working and getting better. The kids fought.”
Middleton is one of two teams from District 15-A to advance to Murfreesboro, as Riverside won Monday night at Gibson County.
Craig Thomas, 425-9634