Karmine Carmichael (23) and the Cocke County girls’ basketball team lost to Dyersburg, 74-51, in the Class 3A state semifinals Friday, March 8, 2024, at MTSU’s Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — Be it by a head coach or by a player from the Cocke County girls basketball team Friday night, every tear shed in the postgame was understandable.
The Lady Red’s historic season had just concluded at the hands of an ultra-athletic and more experienced Dyersburg team in the Class 3A state semifinals at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
But when you’ve just set a new program standard for wins in a season and also, on Thursday, won the program’s first state tournament game since 1958, there’s a profound chemistry within a team and connection with a fan base that no one involved wants to see end.
When it does, emotions follow.
Dyersburg shot 48.3 percent from the floor, shot 93.3 percent from the foul line and forced 23 turnovers en route to a 74-51 win over Cocke County.
That punctuation on the Lady Red’s run did little to diminish what they had achieved.
“Most importantly, these girls united a community that needed to be united,” Cocke County coach Boddie Bible said, his voice pushing through his emotions. “You look in those stands tonight, and they were full with red. These girls have done that, and I’m so proud of them.
“This is not how we wanted it to end. But, unfortunately, every team in the state of Tennessee (has its) season end with a loss, except one in our class. Unfortunately, that one wasn’t us. But when the pain goes away and this settles in, I mean, they’ve etched their names in Cocke County history.”
For the second consecutive day, Cocke County (29-9) got down big in the first quarter and clawed back.
Dyersburg (29-4), which played in the 2023 state tournament, didn’t succumb to the Lady Red’s scrappy ways like Heritage did in the 3A quarterfinals on Thursday.
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The Lady Trojans darted to a 17-4 lead in the first quarter against Cocke County, which trailed Heritage 17-3 oThursday before rallying for a 55-53 win in the quarters.
Cocke County’s Adisen McNealy hit a 3 against Dyersburg with 5 minutes, 29 seconds left in the first half to trim the Lady Red’s deficit to 24-21 and to offer hope that Cocke County’s style of unrelenting effort might just pay off once again.
It did not.
Dyersburg stormed to a 37-24 halftime lead, led 53-39 after the third and then used a 14-3 run over the first four minutes of the fourth to put Cocke County away.
Joya Crawford led Dyersburg with 27 points on 11-for-23 shooting. Chelby Jordan added 20 on 7-for-10 shooting.
“We got down early. Then we got into a little bit of foul trouble. It’s like we couldn’t get that shot to fall to get us over the hump,” Bible said. “They’re a great basketball team, man alive. They shot the ball unbelievable. Joya Crawford is a great player. So is Chelby Jordan. We had a really hard time guarding them.
“It’s all about going zone (against Dyersburg). But they shot it so well, we didn’t think we could do that either. Hats off to them. … Dyersburg is a great basketball team. I’d read all year about how they could be the best team in the state. And they played like the best team in the state tonight.”
Cocke County freshman forward Karmine Carmichael scored a team-high 10 points and had nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks.
She, junior guard Adisen McNealy, sophomore guard Blake Clevenger and junior guard Shakyra Reed will be starters returning for Cocke County for another shot in 2024-25.
But losing the senior leadership and on-court production of Halle Kitchen will be felt.
In a big way.
“We’ve got a lot of pieces coming back. This kid right here,” Bible said, referring to Kitchen, “she took me in as her coach. She puts these girls on her shoulders. Every time things got tough, she’d be the one we leaned on — including me.
“I love Halle. Halle’s going to play at Maryville College. I really believe this team can get back down here because of the way she changed the culture of Cocke County basketball this year. … Our girls are winners. They compete hard. They got a taste of this, and I feel like they’ll be back.”
5STAR PHOTOS powered by SmartBank — Cocke County vs. Dyersburg, 2024 Class 3A state semifinals