Lincoln County girls fall to Cleveland in first TSSAA basketball state tournament appearance

MURFREESBORO –  Despite falling in Wednesday’s Class 4A quarterfinal matchup to Cleveland, Lincoln County still achieved one of its biggest goals this season, becoming the first team to make the TSSAA girls basketball state tournament.

Cleveland (24-9) won 60-44, fighting off a second-half comeback that brought Lincoln County (25-10) within two points in the third quarter. Cleveland moves on to the Class 4A semifinals where it takes on Bartlett at 9:30 a.m. on Friday at MTSU’s Murphy Center in Murfreesboro.

Cleveland was led by Lauren Hurst, who scored a game-high 20 points on 6-for-11 shooting, also making all seven of her free throw attempts. Lincoln County’s Alyssa Petty led the team with 16 points on 46% shooting while Abby Bryan pitched in 11.

Petty described the feeling of walking onto the court for the first time and seeing the fans ahead of tip-off.

“In the warmups and stuff, (I was) a little nervous at first, but I knew we (would) play hard no matter win or lose,” Petty said.

Bryan reflected on what it meant to the Lady Falcons to be Lincoln County’s first team to make it to Murfreesboro.

“It was a pretty awesome feeling to be the first time that (Lincoln County) girls basketball has made it here,” Bryan said. “And a lot of us have been playing together since we were little and this has always been our dream, so it was definitely an awesome feeling.”

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Lincoln County supporters came out in force for the team’s first appearance, turning sections of seats into a sea of bodies and noise for the entirety of Wednesday’s game. Coach Chad Tipps likened the support to their home court, where he said almost all 2,000 seats have been full in previous postseason games.

“We’re really thankful for all of (the fans) and everything that they do,” Bryan said. “They were like that every game so, always came and helped (motivate us).”

While Lincoln County held team camp at MTSU’s Murphy Center ahead of the season, Tipps said the atmosphere was far different on Wednesday. But he believed his team’s experience coming up just short in previous years’ regional tournaments would prepare the players for this stage.

“We've been in moments like that and we've usually played really, really well,” Tipps said. “You know, ball didn’t go in the hole as much as we wanted it to today, but I thought they played their tail off and the moment wasn't too big for them. Ball didn’t go in like we wanted it to and they made some shots and, you know, when you get up here you're playing really good teams.

“But as far as preparing for the moment, we try to say ‘You've been in big situation before just go play basketball, have fun.’ Like Abby said, they played a lot of basketball together and we try to stress having fun and enjoying the moment that you're in and, you know, that that tends to relax them a little bit.”

The Lady Falcons will aim to make their second TSSAA girls basketball state tournament appearance next season, having learned from this season’s first-round exit against Cleveland.

“We talked about that a little bit in the locker room after the game a little bit, is that this ought to whet your appetite to want to be back,” Tipps said. “I don't think I really have to say that, not only to (Petty and Bryan), but anybody else in the locker room that’s coming back. But I think that's why we're here. They're very competitive and they're very self motivated and that's why we've been able to, these last few years, really make a lot of strides towards getting here.”

After a 3-pointer by Bryan gave Lincoln County the victory over Nolensville in the regional semifinal, the Lady Falcons lost to Coffee County by 26 in the Region 5 final. Lincoln County moved into the sectional round at Beech and won 55-39.

“It was definitely a big deal, especially being in middle of literally nowhere in Tennessee,” Petty said. “Not only (am I) grateful for this year, I'm grateful for last year, because honestly it pushed us further, to work more over the summer and that's what we'll do next year.”