Ava Wheeler (2) and the Cocke County Lady Red faced the Liberty Creek Wolves in a TSSAA Class 3A state tournament quarterfinal at the Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center on Wednesday, March 11, 2026, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Cocke County girls advanced, 59-44. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — Ava Wheeler got down on herself pretty hard at halftime of Wednesday’s Class 3A state quarterfinal against Liberty Creek.
The Cocke County High 5-foot-7 sophomore guard, who is known for her perimeter touch, had not a single point and was 0 of 5 from the floor with four misses from behind the arc.
But whatever she said to herself at the break lit a fire, and that scoring prowess returned.
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Wheeler went on an absolute third-quarter heater and wound up with a team-high 19 points to propel Cocke County past Liberty Creek, 59-44, at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
She finished 6-for-13 shooting and 5 of 11 from the 3-point line.
“I just went to the locker room (at half), and I was beating myself up,” Wheeler said. “I was like, ‘We went home first round last year. And we’ve worked so hard to get here.’ So I was like, ‘I need to contribute on my end of the floor.’
“And I just kept on shooting like my coaches and teammates told me to — and it just started falling.”
Couple Wheeler’s performance with junior forward Karmine Carmichael’s double-double (11 points, 10 rebounds), and state tournament rookie Liberty Creek (30-5) didn’t stand a chance.
Carmichael also logged five assists and six steals, as she navigated through the waters of foul trouble to still post a monster stat line.
“This is our third year (in a row) being here, so we definitely didn’t want to go home,” Carmichael said. “We had to bring out our best and give it what we had.”
Now, Cocke County (34-4) will play 2:15 p.m. Central time state semifinal on Friday against White County (33-5).
The matchup will mark the second state semifinal appearance for the Lady Red in the last three seasons — but this trip helped ease some of the sting of last year’s first-round loss to South Gibson.
Another early exit look like a possibility with the way Cocke County started Wednesday.
The Lady Red fell down 20-7 against Liberty Creek, as they went just 1 of 6 from the floor in the opening minutes.
“I told the girls at the end of the first quarter that we have to guard and we have to chip away at this,” Cocke County coach Boddie Bible said. “And, boy, did we ever.”
The Lady Red, however, held Liberty Creek scoreless — that’s right, scoreless — in the second quarter and then outscored the Lady Wolves 20-11 in the third quarter to build a 10-point lead with a quarter to go.
Wheeler hit four 3s in the third quarter — including one at the third-quarter buzzer that prompted a chest-bump celebration with her coach. That’s just how excited he was to see Wheeler’s turnaround.
Wheeler’s fifth 3 came with 5:20 remaining and ushered the Lady Red ahead 48-35.
The lead never dipped below 10 the rest of the way.
Cocke County went 14 of 17 at the foul line to aid in that.
“I told them at halftime, ‘All the momentum is in our favor,'” Bible said. “We absolute wore them (Liberty Creek) out after the first quarter.”
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