Senior guard Renna Lane (21) and the Elizabethton Cyclones took on the Dyersburg Trojans in a TSSAA Class 3A state tournament quarterfinal in Monte Hale Arena at the Murphy Center on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Elizabethton girls won 66-54. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — A teary-eyed Renna Lane, the 5-foot-11 forward from Elizabethton High School, sat in the press room last year at MTSU’s Murphy Center following a first-round state tournament loss to Upperman and made a proclamation to the media that sat before her.
“I never want to feel this way again,” she said then. “Next year is my last year, and I don’t want to feel like this again.”
She got her wish Tuesday.
As teammate Reiley Whitson made two foul shots with 20.4 seconds left, Lane congregated at midcourt, hugging fellow senior Lina Lyon and high-fiving some other Lady Cyclones.
No first-round exit this time.
Lane had 14 points and 10 rebounds while Lyon had a team-high 19 points, and Elizabethton got its first state tournament win since 2015 by beating Dyersburg 66-54 at the Murphy Center.
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“A million times better,” Lane said of the feeling following the win. “I took the same walk (to the press room) last year. But I told Lina, ‘This walk feels better. We’re not both balling our eyes out.”
“Every single time we got tired during the game,” Lane added, “(Coach) would bring up the game we had last year. And we just remembered that ‘we don’t want to feel like this again.’ It made us work even harder.”
Elizabethton (30-4) got up by as many as 17 points in the second half and wound up shooting 34 free throws after the halftime break, as Dyersburg (20-11) sought to mount a rally and fouled relentlessly.
And while the Lady Cyclones didn’t exactly shine at the line — making 20 of 34 free throws in the final 16 minutes — they made enough to keep the lead plenty safe and advance to Thursday’s 6 p.m. Central semifinal against 2022 runner-up Jackson South Side.
South Side (32-0) ousted defending-champion Upperman (32-4) on Tuesday, 44-31.
Marlee Mathena, a 6-2 junior forward from Elizabethton, had a monster game with 18 points and 13 rebounds on Tuesday. Her presence in the paint proved invaluable on both ends. She went 6-for-9 shooting and also corralled 11 defensive rebounds in her 29 minutes.
Dyersburg sophomore Joya Crawford-Taylor scored a game-high 33 points on 12-for-30 shooting. She made the Lady Trojans’ only 3, as they went 1-for-16 from the arc.
Elizabethton’s veteran leadership and know-how in the state-tournament atmosphere more than held up against Dyersburg’s athleticism and pressure defense.
The Lady Cyclones finished with just nine turnovers.
“We knew they were going to press. We knew they were going to throw that 2-2-1 and 1-2-2 trap,” said Elizabethton coach Lucas Andrews. “We see it a lot during the season, so we really didn’t harp on it much. I feel confident enough in all of them that they know where there marks are and can find that girl and hit and attack.”
Though the feel-good emotions flowed after the win, Elizabethton quickly tempered them and turned the page to its next opponent.
Another win, and Elizabethton returns to the title game for the first time since 2014’s championship.
“Basically, you got 10 minutes to celebrate (this win) and you got to get back out and watch this (Upperman/South Side) game and get a feel for what they’re doing,” said Andrews.
“That’s part of the state tournament. You’re playing the best in the state. I told them before the game, ‘You belong here. You deserve to be here. You got to show you can beat those teams, if that’s what you want.’ I think it’s exciting. I tell them all the time, ‘You deserve what you got. Go take the opportunity and run with it.””
5STAR PHOTOS: Elizabethton Lady Cyclones vs. Dyersburg Lady Trojans – Class 3A quarterfinals (2023)