How Ellie Graham, Moore County grinded to first TSSAA girls basketball final since 2010

MURFREESBORO — The mood in the Moore County locker room at halftime of Friday's Class 1A semifinal against Greenfield was fiery; a flame borne out of the knowledge that the Raiders were playing far from their best basketball.

Ellie Graham, one of two team captains, remembers the Raiders' other captain, Katy Fletcher, repeating a mantra: "We didn't come this far just to come this far."

That's especially true for Graham, who came down with strep throat and a sinus infection in February. The junior forward needed steroids to get through Moore County's run to the TSSAA state tournament, but played the whole way.

"It was tough at first," Graham said. "It was really hard to breathe because I was so congested. … I’m feeling a lot better now."

Don't just take her word for it. Graham totaled 16 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Raiders, who trailed 20-16 at halftime, to a 38-28 win over the Yellowjackets and their third-ever state championship game appearance. Moore County lost in its previous two title games, 1998 and 2010.

The Raiders (27-8) face Pickett County (28-2) in Saturday's championship game, which tips off at 3:30 p.m. at Middle Tennessee State's Murphy Center.

"These young ladies are unbelievable," said Moore County coach Chad Spencer. "They don't ever give up. They got grit, and they wanted to do this not only for our basketball team, but for our community."

Spencer calls Graham, who averages 11.6 points and 6.1 rebounds, a "workhorse." He could tell that Greenfield (23-11) schemed to take Fletcher out of the game after she went for 21 points in a quarterfinal win over Clay County. With Fletcher held to two points on 1-of-3 shooting Friday, Graham had 10 points and six rebounds in the second half.

MORE: TSSAA girls basketball state tournament 2024 bracket

MORE: TSSAA girls basketball state tournament updates for Friday's semifinals

Off the court, Graham fills a leadership role as one of eight juniors on a team without any seniors.

"If I'm in a meeting or something after school, I got full confidence in them," Spencer said of his captains. "I trust them to walk through a game plan, to get started at practice."

Spencer isn't worried about his team not meeting the moment on Saturday. There's a reason he scheduled as tough as he did this season.

Moore County faced strong 3A schools Central Magnet, Tullahoma and Upperman, as well as 2A powers Loretto and Summertown. While the Raiders didn't play Pickett County during the regular season, they scrimmaged against them and 1A semifinalist Wayne County at their team camp over the summer.

"These girls don't really get rattled, and that's rare to be as young as they are," Spencer said. "... The kids, they got a lot of grit and fight in them."

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.