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By JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO – Gatlinburg-Pittman and Grainger were the only area teams in the Class AA girls state tournament field this week. And both nearly manufactured big-time comebacks Wednesday afternoon at the Murphy Center at MTSU.
Here’s what happened …
UPPERMAN OUSTS GATLINBURG-PITTMAN
The Gatlinburg-Pittman Lady Highlanders took on Upperman in a TSSAA Class AA state tournament quarterfinal at Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on Wednesday, March 11, 2020. (Photo by Danny Parker)
Ivy Bales, the standout senior from Gatlinburg-Pittman, nearly willed a comeback victory.
But the Lady Highlanders went cold in the final quarter of its Class AA state quarterfinal against Upperman, falling to the Lady Bees 59-42.
Despite not scoring in the first half, Bales paced Gatlinburg-Pittman with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
The 5-foot-10 guard, who signed with American University, scored the first five points for the Lady Highlanders in the third quarter, showing a determination to get her team back in the contest.
And that, she did.
Shelby Moore (16 points) hit a 3 and got Upperman’s lead down to 37-31 with 49 seconds left in the third quarter.
But Upperman hit a buzzer-beating 3 at the end of the third, G-P went 1-for-10 from the floor in the first half of the fourth quarter, and the Lady Bees pulled away for good.
Gatlinburg-Pittman (22-12) hoped to make its second semifinal appearance in program history, just three years after its maiden trip to state in 2017.
Upperman (29-6), the 2018 Class AA state champion, seized control in the second quarter, using a 10-2 run to take a 19-13 lead with 3:11 left in the half.
The Lady Bees took a 23-15 lead into halftime, as G-P shot 26.1 percent in the first 16 minutes and 18.2 percent (2-for-11) in the second quarter.
Bales was 0-for-5 in the first half but pulled down five rebounds. Moore’s nine points early helped the Lady Highlanders stay close.
WESTVIEW 43, GRAINGER 38
The state quarterfinal round proved unkind for the Grainger girls basketball team for a second year in a row.
The Lady Grizzlies battled back from a double-digit deficit on Wednesday but couldn’t take the lead late in the Class AA state quarterfinal against Westview.
Westview led by as many as 13 points in the first half and by as much as 12 midway through the third quarter but held on for a 43-38 win.
Grainger (32-4) finally found offensive form in the third quarter and constructed an 11-1 run that Abbey Hodge punctuated with a 3 with 16 seconds left. That cut Westview’s lead to 30-28 entering the final quarter.
5STAR PHOTOS: Grainger, Gatlinburg-Pittman in 2020 Class AA state quarterfinals
Grainger shot 5-for-21 from the floor in the first half but 10-for-21 in the seconds half, and it once more cut their deficit to two on a free throw by Tori Rutherford (16 points) with 6:51 remaining.
The Lady Grizzlies didn’t score for the next 4:21, however. That allowed Westview to pull in front 37-29 with roughly 2 minutes to play.
Rutherford buried a 3 from the right wing to cut the deficit to five and end the scoring drought.
She popped in another at the 1-minute mark to make it a 38-35 contest.
Audrey Stratton’s 3 made it 41-38 with 13 seconds left.
Westview barely kept Grainger at bay with 5-for-8 shooting at the foul line in the final 54 seconds.