HIGH SCHOOL

Blackman wins, advances to AAA semis

Tom Kreager
tkreager@dnj.com

MURFREESBORO – The first step in Blackman's state title defense hit a bump Wednesday.

But top-ranked Blackman recovered and pushed the gas when it needed.

The Lady Blaze held off fourth-ranked Mt. Juliet's upset bid with a late rally to win 58-48 at MTSU's Murphy Center in the Class AAA quarterfinals of the TSSAA Girls Basketball State Championships.

"It's a good feeling to get this first game out of the way, but we're not looking at the championship game," said Blackman senior MeMe Jackson, a Tennessee signee. "We're just looking at the next game."

Blackman is the defending national champions and is currently ranked third nationally by MaxPreps and ESPN.

The Lady Blaze (30-2) play Morristown West (30-5) at 11:30 a.m. Friday in the semifinals. Morristown West defeated Arlington 44-31 in its quarterfinal.

Blackman's Crystal Dangerfield goes up for a shot during the quarterfinal Division 1 Class AAA BlueCross Basketball Championship game against Mt. Juliet, on Wednesday March 4, 2015.

Clinging to a 39-37 lead with 7:48 left, Blackman (30-2) rattled off an 11-2 run to give it some breathing room.

Miss Basketball finalist Crystal Dangerfield scored four straight points to kick start the run.

"It was really all about Dangerfield during that stretch, I thought," Mt. Juliet coach Chris Fryer said. "For some reason, we could not find her. She would get in the middle of the zone some, she would get on the baseline.

"We didn't do a very good job communicating on where she was at."

Dangerfield, a Connecticut commitment, led Blackman with 18 points. She also had four assists and two steals without a turnover in 31 minutes.

Jackson added 12 points and four assists. Jazz Bond tallied 10 points and blocked four shots. And MTSU signee Alex Johnson and Georgia State signee KK Williams had nine points apiece.

Ronjanae DeGray led Mt. Juliet (32-3) with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Sister Rae DeGray added 13 points. Both sisters are Arkansas-Little Rock signees.

The DeGray sisters along with the Lady Bears' 2-3 zone gave the Lady Blaze fits in the paint all game.

"It was definitely a war inside," Johnson said. "It was a battle the entire time. I got a busted lip.

"They are aggressive. We had to D up."

The Mt. Juliet zone helped move Blackman out to the perimeter. The Lady Blaze hit 6 of 20 3-pointers in the contest.

"I think we settled a little bit in stretches," Blackman coach Chad Hibdon said. "And it's tough to go against length and zone like that.

"Teams are hoping we are taking and missing perimeter shots. We didn't necessarily mind them. The ones we talked to them about were the ones that were so deep. I thought offensively, for the most part we had a nice flow."

Contact Tom Kreager at 615-278-5168 or tkreager@dnj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Kreager.

Blackman 58, Mt. Juliet 48

Mt. Juliet 8 15 13 12 – 48

Blackman 13 14 12 19 – 58

Mt. Juliet: Ashley Roby 3, Rae DeGray 13, Karly Dyer 3, Ronjanae DeGray 20, Tavie Bell 9.

Blackman: MeMe Jackson 12, KK Williams 9, Jazz Bond 10, Crystal Dangerfield 18, Alex Johnson 9.

NEXT GAME

Blackman (30-2)

vs. Morristown West (30-5)*

When: 11:30 a.m., Friday

Where: MTSU's Murphy Center

How much: $10 admission;

$5 parking

*WGNS (1450-AM, 100.5-FM)