'Go get you guys some big nice rings': How Upperman girls basketball won third TSSAA title

MURFREESBORO – Brooklyn Crouch sat in the stands as an eighth-grader, dreaming of winning a TSSAA girls basketball state championship after watching two-time Miss Basketball Akira Levy lead the Lady Bees to back-to-back state titles.

On Saturday, well after the Lady Bees had defeated Jackson South Side 48-43 for the Class 3A title and celebrated with the gold ball trophy, Levy was on the phone, FaceTiming with her coach and the Lady Bees' four all-tournament team members.

"What's up?" Upperman coach Dana McWilliams said to Levy. "Look at my girls."

"I'm so happy right now," Levy said. "I can't believe you did it again. That's so crazy. Go get you guys some big nice rings ... I'm so happy. I love you guys."

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The Lady Bees plan to do just that.

Winning state championships is never easy. And this one particularly wasn't an easy road. The state championship is the third in program history and comes after winning the 2017 and 2018 Class AA titles with Levy, who is now at Cincinnati, leading the way. 

Crouch scored 13 points with five rebounds. Jayla Cobb added 13 points and hit four straight free throws in the final 20.2 seconds to preserve the championship win. Emma Conradi and Abigail Johnson chipped in with 10 apiece. Johnson, who hit two second-half 3-pointers, was named the MVP of the 3A tournament.

All four — Cobb, Conradi, Crouch and Johnson — were named to the all-tournament team.

The title came a year after Upperman was upset by York Institute in overtime of the 2021 Class AA region semifinals despite the Lady Bees being a state tournament favorite. Two years ago, Upperman was in the state semifinals when the TSSAA canceled the rest of the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It was definitely a tough journey," said Crouch, a Miss Basketball finalist. "Every year we've had a good team. This year we worked so hard. We improved so much.

"We had to get that gold ball."

In mid-January Upperman lost three straight District 7-3A games in a week by a combined 11 points. It upset McWilliams. She wondered if she could get what she needed out of this team.

"I'll be honest, we lost two games in a row at our place everyone acts like that is the end of the season or something," she said. "Then we get prepared and go to White County and we played pretty well — and we lost. 

"I told them I went home and pouted — actually I cried. Not for losing to White County, but I thought maybe I couldn't do this. ... I had a really pity party."

The day after the loss, Upperman beat Clarksville Northwest and rattled off 16 more for the state championship.

"(This group) is just special," McWilliams said. "We spend a lot of time together. They are special to me. I wanted it so bad for them."

Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.