The Farragut Admirals took on the Bearden Bulldogs in the TSSAA Class 4A state championship at Murphy Center on Saturday, March 12, 2022, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Bearden girls won 52-34. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — Just before the final quarter of Saturday’s Class 4A state championship against rival Knoxvillle-rival Farragut, the Bearden girls’ basketball team’s top players gathered for one last players-only huddle.
“We were just kind of getting together and saying, ‘Eight more minutes — for everything that we’ve worked for this season,” said Bearden senior guard Jennifer Sullivan.
“We were just telling each other to leave it all out there, leave it on the line.”
Mission accomplished.
Just 8 seconds in the fourth, Bearden 6-3 junior post Avery Treadwell converted a 3-point play. A minute later, Sullivan added a 3-pointer.
And it became clear in a hurry that the championship was theirs.
Bearden won its first-ever state championship in girls’ basketball in its first appearance in a title game, knocking off tournament-newcomer and arch-rival Farragut by a 52-34 count at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
To begin realizing your financial future with resources that fit both you and your values, click on the Thrivent logo above.
Bearden (36-3) ran its win streak to 22 games and completed a five-game season sweep of the Lady Admirals (28-9) — three of those contests coming in the postseason.
Treadwell earned tournament MVP honors, and she had 15 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks Saturday night.
A season ago, Bearden came to Murfreesboro with a 30-1 mark but got upset in the first round.
This week was about redemption.
And maybe a little about domination. Bearden won its three state tournament games this week by 22, 19 and 18 points.
“Going back home (last year) after we lost at state was literally the worst time on a bus ever imaginable,” said Treadwell. “We were all so emotional and disappointed.
“We were all motivated by that, that we weren’t going to feel like that again — no matter what.”
That motivation showed from the opening tip Saturday night.
Bearden nabbed the upper hand early, racing to an 11-2 lead after Bailey Burgess buried a 3 at the 6:29 mark of the second quarter.
Farragut, which shot 1-for-10 in the first quarter while getting out-rebounded 11-4, responded. Senior guard Avery Strickland recovered from an 0-for-4 shooting start and made a couple jumpers in the second quarter to kick Farragut into gear.
Then junior guard Annalise Bishop, who proved so clutch throughout the state tournament for Farragut, hit consecutive 3s from the right corner to cut Bearden’s lead to 16-12 with just 2 minutes left in the half. She finished with nine points.
Burgess, though, negated Bishop’s makes.
She hit two 3s in the final 1:33 of the second quarter — including one with 5 seconds left — that pushed Bearden’s advantage to 22-14 at the break.
She sank another just 11 seconds into the third quarter for a 25-14 advantage. Burgess wound up with 15 points, going 4-for-9 on 3s.
Strickland countered with a 3 that was 10 feet behind the 3-point line at the top of the key to keep close, and her floater in the lane at the 6:09 mark of the third cut Bearden’s lead to 25-19.
“I just felt like we needed a bucket, so I was just like, ‘I’m going to shoot it,'” Strickland said of her lengthy make.
Farragut just had no answer for Treadwell, though. She scored twice in the spot and Maddie Brillhart added in a 3, as Bearden led 32-22 with 3:22 left in the third.
By that point, Treadwell had 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting and 10 rebounds.
Bearden took a 36-27 lead into the final quarter, opened that on an 8-0 run and took final control of the title game.
“Being a post is tough. This is a guard’s world. Feeding the ball in there (to Treadwell), she works hard. She’s kind of a throwback player,” said Bearden coach Justin Underwood, who just completed his 11th season. “She’s worked really hard on her game each year to get better.
“And our guards do a good job of getting her the ball. And when she gets it, she makes defenses pay. She was huge in the second half.”
As for Farragut, it made its state tournament debut this week and reached the title game. Many likely wrote the team off after losing by 29 points roughly two weeks ago to Bearden in the Region 2-4A championship game.
But there was Farragut on Saturday, only down by seven points late in the third quarter of a state title game to the same team.
Quite the bounce back, to say the least.
“I just know when we played that region championship game, it wasn’t us,” said Strickland, who had 14 points Saturday. “That’s just my opinion. And obviously other people’s opinions can believe something different.
“But I believed we were going to get here and have this opportunity.”
Two teams from the same city have previously met for TSSAA girls’ basketball championships, even as recently as 2015 in the Division I ranks. Murfreesboro Blackman beat Murfreesboro Oakland in double-overtime to win the Class AAA title that year.
But this meeting between Farragut and Bearden didn’t turn out to be a thriller.
It proved to be more about Knox County history.
Two rivals. Each trying to become the first Knoxville girls’ basketball team to win the state’s largest classification championship.
Bearden became the first area girls’ team to win the largest class since Sevier County in 2002.
“It’s hard to watch your rival, from 5 miles down the road, who this group has not beaten in four years. We have not beaten them. That’s hard. It’s hard to watch anybody celebrate, much less your rival,” said Farragut coach Jason Mayfield.
“But, man, when we look back on this — we’re hurt and frustrated now — but this is not just a special team with basketball talent, it’s a special group. … They’re going to leave a really good legacy for everything down the road for our program.”
5STAR PHOTOS: Farragut Lady Admirals vs. Bearden Lady Bulldogs – Class 4A State Championship