MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The last time she walked off the hardwood at "The Glass House" in a TSSAA State Championships, Bianca (Thomas) Hensley was carrying a Gold Ball and a Miss Tennessee Basketball award.
Almost 24 years later her Cleveland Lady Raiders gave her another state tournament victory with a 60-44 blowout of Lincoln County Wednesday in the Class 4A Elite Eight.
"I'm super proud of our girls. We have grown tremendously from the start of the season to this point," related Hensley, a member of the 2005 Chester County state champs.
"We finished our summer at the Murphy Center and we set a goal to come back in March for the State Championships. We're in the Final Four now and just two steps away from a championship.
"We weathered a few storms tonight, but our kids were relentless," she praised.
Notching their first TSSAA Championship victory since 2008, Cleveland (24-9) advances to Friday's state semifinals, where they will battle 2023 state-up Bartlett (29-10) at 10:30 a.m.
The Lady Panthers knocked off No. 5 Sevier County (31-4) by a 54-42 tally Wednesday.
Nationally-ranked and defending state champion Bradley Central (32-1) also made it back to the Final Four with a "mercy rule" thrashing of No. 2-ranked and previously unbeaten Clarksville (33-1) in a 60-32 final.
The top-ranked (in Tennessee) Bearettes will square off with No. 4 Coffee County (34-3) for the second time this season. Bradley won the first meeting 55-46 in Smiddy Arena, back in November.
The Lady Red Raiders advanced with a 48-39 win over Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett (24-9). The Final Four clash will tip at noon Friday.
A possible all Bradley County Class 4A Championship Game is set for Saturday afternoon at 2.
Cleveland trailed for just 54 seconds in the contest, racing out to a 21-12 advantage at the first horn, thanks in part to a 10-2 rebounding advantage.
Despite an 11-3 deficit on the backboards in the second frame, Lincoln County (25-10) was went toe-to-toe for an 11-10 edge, trailing just 31-23 at the intermission.
The girls from Fayetteville was able to trim the difference to just two points (34-32) with a 9-3 run to open the second half, taking advantage of a 14-1 turnover ratio at the 3:29 mark of the third frame.
After Coach Hensley called a timeout, her Lady Raiders responded with the final eight points of the period, pushing their edge back out to eight points (42-34) heading into the final frame.
Once again Lincoln County came out of the short break hot for a quick four points to cut the deficit in half, but Cleveland broke off a 10-1 streak of its own to puch the difference back to double digits with 4:11 remaining.
The Lady Raiders sealed the victory by netting 10 of the game's final 13 points.
Six-foot-three Lauren Hurst showed why she is ranked as the top recruit of the Class of 2025, posting a double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds, while also handing out a trio of assists and blocking a shot.
"Lauren had a great game and was able to do the things she does to lead us," assessed Coach Hensley.
Sophomore Ilianis Rodriguez and senior Callie Brewer helped out with 10 points apiece, both drilling a pair of 3-point bombs.
Freshman Emily Patterson came off the bench for a half dozen points and 10 caroms, half off the offensive glass. Junior Tamiah Tanner also tickled the twine from long distance twice for six points.
"Ilianis and Callie both hit some big shots and Emily Patterson was relentless on the boards with some key rebounds and played phenomenal," praised Coach Hensley.
Cleveland hit 14-of-25 (56%) from inside the arc, plus drained 7-of-19 (36.8%) beyond it, plus connected on 11-of-15 (78.6%) from the charity stripe.
The Lady Raider defense held Lincoln County to just 30.2% (16-for-53) from the field, including only 4-of-19 (21.1%) from distance and 8-for-19 (42.1%) at the foul line.
The Lady Raiders won the battle of the boards 42-24.
SUMMARY
|
LINCOLN COUNTY
|
12
|
11
|
11
|
10
|
--44
|
|
CLEVELAND
|
21
|
10
|
11
|
18
|
--60
|
LINCOLN COUNTY (44) — Alyssa Petty 16, Bonner 6, Tipps 3, Brown 5, Abigail Bryan 11, Phelps, Nichols, Flynn, Graham, Franklin, Curtis 3, Bragg.
CLEVELAND (60) — Ilianis Rodriguez 10, Lauren Hurst 20, Callie Brewer 10, Westfield 2, E. Smith 4, Copeland 2, I. Smith, Tanner 6, Clark, Patterson 6.
3-point goals: Lincoln County 4 (Petty, Bonner, Brown, Bryan); Cleveland 7 (Rodriguez 2, Hurst, Brewer 2, Tanner 2).
Free throws: Lincoln County 8-of-19; Cleveland 11-of-14.
Records: Lincoln County 25-10; Cleveland 24-9.
(Email Joe Cannon at joe.cannon@clevelandbanner.com)