Harper Stinnett (11) and the Alcoa Tornadoes matched up with the Tullahoma Wildcats in a TSSAA Class 3A state tournament quarterfinal at the Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Alcoa girls advanced, 48-44. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — From Harper Stinnett’s vantage point on the floor Wednesday night, the final-second heave by Tullahoma star McLayne Bobo looked good.
“I was so nervous,” said Stinnett, an Alcoa freshman standout.
But Bobo’s 30-foot shot wound up spinning out of the rim, preserving Alcoa’s 3-point lead.
Alcoa senior guard Halle Bailey tacked on an extra point with 0.3 seconds left to seal the win, and Alcoa eliminated Tullahoma 48-44 from the Class 3A state tournament at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
The Lady Tornadoes (28-7) trailed by nine points early in the third quarter but summoned some extra grit and effort late to power past Tullahoma (22-11) and into Friday’s state semifinal round.
Junior guard Brylee Flatt’s jumper with 13 seconds left put Alcoa ahead for good Wednesday. Gwen Carroll, who led Alcoa with 20 points, added two free throws with 9 seconds left to make it 47-44.
Now, Alcoa will face tournament-regular Dyersburg (26-6) at 12:45 p.m. Central time on Friday.
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DOWN THE STRETCH
Tullahoma took a 37-34 lead in the fourth quarter, and neither team scored for the opening 4 minutes, 7 seconds of the fourth until Carroll scored in transition and got fouled.
She made the free throw to knot the game.
Alcoa got into transition again with 3:24 left, and Carroll received the pass and turned into points with a layup, giving Alcoa its first lead (39-37) since the opening minute of the first quarter.
Bailey swished two foul shots with 1:44 to play that drew Alcoa even with Tullahoma at 41-all. Alcoa’s Kadie Bremer stole the inbounds pass and Alcoa called timeout to save possession. But the Lady Ts eventually turned it over.
Tullahoma took the lead 43-41 on Madison McCarl’s post jumper with 1:02 remaining.
Alcoa’s Maddy Stewart put back her own miss on Alcoa’s end to tie the score at 43-43. Stewart finished with four points and 12 rebounds.
After Tullahoma only made 1 of 2 foul shots with 23 seconds to play, Alcoa didn’t panic.
It ran its offense.
Flatt drove in from the top of the key to the free-throw line and knocked down the midrange jumper with 11.2 seconds left to take the lead.
“We just wanted to run what we call our flow,” Alcoa coach David Baumann said. “We did a good job of reversing the basketball quickly and (Flatt) came off of it quickly, stepped up confidently. And that was a huge shot, because she had sat a little bit in the fourth because Kadie Bremer was playing so well and making big plays.
“When it got tight late, we brought Brylee back in. And she made a huge shot, and that just says a lot about her character.”
Bailey stole the Hail Mary inbounds pass by Tullahoma down the floor and got fouled. After Alcoa inbounded the ball following the foul, Tullahoma promptly fouled Carroll.
Carroll made two foul shots with 9 seconds left to for a 3-point lead.
Alcoa went 13 of 19 at the foul line, seemingly always making the ones that mattered.
THE FIRST HALF
Alcoa suffered through a nightmarish start the first 10 minutes of the contest, going 1-for-13 from the floor with seven turnovers. It also lost the rebounding battle in that span, 14-11.
Still, the play of Carroll in the first half kept Alcoa in it.
Her corner 3 for Alcoa at the 5:35 mark of the second quarter cut Alcoa’s deficit to just 16-9. But that shot didn’t materialize into any game-altering run for the Lady Ts. They didn’t score for another 2:35, when Carroll’s mid-range jumper with 3 minutes left in the half cut Tullahoma’s lead to 18-11.
Carroll, who had eight first-half points, buried another corner 3 with 35 seconds left in half to shrink Tullahoma’s advantage to just 22-17.
The Lady Wildcats led Alcoa, 24-17, at the break.
But despite 19 percent shooting as a team and 10 first-half turnovers, Alcoa still had a shot after the break because Tullahoma only shot 28.6 percent.
“That’s what we talked about (at half). We talked about how we couldn’t have played any worse but we still had cut it to seven,” Baumann said. “We talked about how in this environment, it’s just about heart.”
THIRD QUARTER
Alcoa threatened to take the lead three times in the third quarter.
And the first two times it happened, Tullahoma popped in a 3 to beat back the Lady Ts’ rally.
Harper Stinnett made a 3 in the first minute of the second half to trim the deficit to six, but Tullahoma’s McLayne Bobo answered with a 3 on the other end.
After Carroll’s made layup with 4:44 remaining in the third cut Tullahoma’s lead to 31-28, Tullahoma responded with 3s by Bobo and Aubrey North on the next two Lady Wildcats possessions. Those pair of makes put Tullahoma out front, 37-28, with 3:21 left in the third.
But finally, Alcoa made some true progress in trying to catch Tullahoma.
Stinnett sank a 3 from the left wing at the 1:35 mark of the third to make it 37-31 Tullahoma.
Carroll made another corner 3 a minute later to slice Tullahoma’s lead to 37-34.
That proved to be the score heading into the fourth.
“The last couple games, I’ve just been able to knock them down,” Carroll said. “They felt good coming off my hand and just went in.”
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