MURFREESBORO – Blackman will be back to defend its TSSAA Class AAA championship.
How healthy its best player will be on the hardwood in MTSU’s Murphy Center later this week is another matter.
With a 75-47 victory over Cumberland County on Monday night, the top-ranked Lady Blaze secured another trip to state championships after knocking off the Lady Jets for the second straight season.
In the process, Blackman lost standout Crystal Dangerfield 4:30 into the contest when she twisted her right ankle under the Lady Jets’ basket.
The reigning Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year and Connecticut commit was helped off the court and spent the remaining minutes of the first quarter being treated by Blackman trainer Clayton Faircloth. She attempted to jog down the same baseline she was injured during the quarter break but could not go.
“My leg was planted and a girl came down and rolled it out,” the junior point guard and two-time Miss Basketball finalist said. “It just twisted out. It’s just an ankle sprain.”
Blackman (29-2), the defending national champions by USA TODAY, MaxPreps and ESPN, was already up 14-6 when Dangerfield went down. Angel Allen stepped into the lineup for Dangerfield and helped direct the Lady Blaze to a 23-11 lead by the end of the first quarter and a 41-19 halftime advantage.
Allen had six rebounds, three assists, a steal, no turnovers and two points.
The Lady Blaze built the 22-point lead at the break by holding Cumberland County to 7-of-29 shooting from the field and limiting the Lady Jets’ second chances with 15 defensive boards.
Destiny Carlton led the Lady Jets with 14 points.
Oakland 73, White Co. 58: Playing in its most hostile gymnasium all season, sixth-ranked Oakland snapped a 10-year drought from playing in the TSSAA Class AAA Girls Basketball State Championships.
The Lady Patriots pulled away from White County in the second half behind the duo of Shelby Gibson and Abby Wright to win 73-58 in a capacity-filled Roy Sewell Gymnasium in the Class AAA sectionals.
Wright and Gibson combined for 53 points.
The win clinched a berth in the state quarterfinals a year after the Lady Patriots fell to Bradley Central in the same round. Oakland (26-7) plays Bartlett (22-10) at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at MTSU’s Murphy Center. Bartlett upset Memphis Overton in its sectional.
“This means the world to me,” said Oakland junior Ansley Eubank, who was one of two starters returning from last year. “If we wouldn’t have gotten past this step I don’t know what I would do next year at all.
“To have this feeling is amazing. We all wanted it, and we got it.”
Oakland last reached the state tournament in 2005, when the Lady Patriots reached the state semifinals.
Gibson poured in 24 points and had 10 rebounds.
Dickson Co. 59, Rossview 52; The Dickson County girls’ basketball team survived a second-half rally by Rossview to pull out a 59-52 win in the Class AAA Sectional at Dickson County.
The Lady Cougars (32-2) will face Bearden (30-4) in the state quarterfinals Wednesday at 10 a.m. at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
Rossview (24-8) outscored Dickson Co. in both the third and fourth quarters, but the Lady Cougars kept battling to stay in the lead.
“I think once you get to that point, it’s like do or die so we really just dug down deep,” Dickson County senior Payton Grove said after the game. “We knew they would make a run at some point in the game. No team is just going to lay down, especially Rossview. I think we knew to just stay steady when they make that run, don’t panic.”
Payton Grove paced the Lady Cougars with 18 points while teammates Lea Lea Carter (15), Emily Beard (10) and Lainey Reed (10) were also in double-digits scoring.
Westmoreland 39, Giles County 33: Sophomore forward Karley Smith scored a game-high 19 points as Westmoreland advanced to the state tournament for the eighth time in the program’s history and third time under head coach Cherie Abner.
The Lady Eagles (31-6) never trailed.
Westmoreland’s last state appearance came in 2005, when the program was in Class A. It is only the second appearance for the Lady Eagles in Class AA.
The Lady Eagles face Grainger at 12:30 p.m. Thursday.
Giles County — which was led by junior forward Keneisha Love — fell to 21-9.
Cannon Co. 62, Sequoyah 60: Kristen Hale came off the bench to score 14 second-half points, and Cannon County converted free throws down the stretch, to earn another spot in the state tournament.
Hale connected on four 3-pointers in the second half to give the Lionettes the boost they needed to pull away from the Lady Chiefs in the girls AA state sectional game Monday night, and Cannon County connected on 12-of-16 from the line in the fourth quarter, as they won 62-60.
Girls sectional scores
