MURFREESBORO – Thanks to a dominating performance on the boards, the Martin Luther King girls basketball team has already advanced one step farther in this year’s state tournament than last year.

“It’s a big accomplishment because this is what we wanted to come do,” said MLK senior Jordan Majors, who scored 21 points, had three blocks and pulled down 14 rebounds. “We didn’t want to come down here and lose the first game like we did last year. “

MLK rode a 47-27 rebound advantage to a lopsided 69-48 victory over Cannon County in the Class AA quarterfinals Friday in MTSU’s Murphy Center.

“That’s just where we get a lot of our points from I think when you break it down,” MLK coach Lindy Brown King said. “We knew they were a shooting team so we knew that if they got the shot off we had to go get the rebound because we couldn’t give them a second chance.”

The victory puts MLK (27-6) in Saturday’s semifinals, facing top-ranked Elizabethton at 9 p.m.

Those second chances came at a premium all night for Cannon County. MLK used its strong rebounding to outscore Cannon County 20-7 on second-chance points.

“We didn’t do a good job early of blocking out,” Cannon County coach Michael Dodgen said. “They just hurt us on the boards.”

Cannon County (24-10) also hurt itself with fouls. Three starters fouled out and the Lady Lions finished with 25 team fouls while MLK had just 15.

The Royals made the most of their trips to the free throw line, shooting more than 73 percent. Briana Smith finished with a game-high 22 points, hitting 16-of-17 from the line.

“That’s like 50 percent of our practice,” Smith said. “I know that free throws are a big part of the game and they win games so I knew I had to knock them down tonight.”

MLK led 34-20 at halftime and went on an 11-0 run midway through the third quarter. Cannon County got as close at seven in the final period.

“We just want to go out strong with a championship,” Majors said.

Reach Sam Brown at 615-259-8232 and on Twitter @SamBrownTN.