Avery Strickland and the Farragut Admirals took on the Cookeville Cavaliers in a TSSAA Class 4A state tournament semifinal at Murphy Center on Friday, March 11, 2022, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Farragut girls won 65-53. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — Jason Mayfield, the Farragut High School girls basketball coach, has his ways of preparing the Lady Admirals for pressure-packed moments at the free-throw line.
It all starts in practice.
Make, and everything’s good.
Miss, and well, get penalized with some form of running or conditioning.
“They love that part,” Mayfield said Friday night with heavy sarcasm.
Nevertheless, the conventional method paid big — HUGE — dividends Friday in the Class 4A state semifinals. Farragut made all the clutch free throws late against a one-loss Cookeville team and recorded a 65-53 win at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
And now, in this their first-ever state tournament appearance, the Lady Admirals will play for a state championship — against their arch rival.
In an All-Knoxville matchup for the state championship, Farragut (28-8) will take on Bearden (35-3) at 6 p.m. Central time on Saturday in Murfreesboro.
Bearden is in the finale for the first time ever but will be favored.
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The Lady Bulldogs have beaten Farragut four times already this season. The margins of victory: 18, nine, 12 and 29 — the latter of which came in the Region 2-4A Championship less than two weeks ago.
Farragut’s last win over Bearden was Dec. 8, 2017, which means no player on the Lady Admirals current roster has experienced a win over the Lady Bulldogs.
“We’re the underdogs coming in, obviously. So we have nothing to lose,” said Farragut senior Avery “Ace” Strickland. “We’re just going to come in and we’re going to battle.
“We know what we have to do. We just have to step up and do it.”
Strickland, a senior and former West Virginia commit, led all scorers with 31 points and nine rebounds Friday against Cookeville (32-2). She’s averaging 24 points per game at state this week while shooting 60 percent from the field (18 of 30). She’s also made six of 14 (42.8 percent) from the 3-point line.
But most importantly, she and her teammates were forced to make free throws in the fourth.
And they did it under an intense spotlight.
Farragut made 14 of 18 at the free-throw line in the final eight minutes to fend off any possible rally.
Cookeville, in front of throngs upon throngs of its fans, cut Farragut’s lead to 45-40 with 6 minutes, 12 seconds, left in the fourth quarter. Strickland responded with a 3-point play.
Annalise Bishop put Farragut ahead 11 with two foul shots at the 3:05 mark, but that didn’t seal it. Cookeville hit consecutive 3s to make it 54-49 game with 2:17 remaining.
No matter.
Ashlyn Sheridan made two free throws with 1:27 to go.
Strickland added two more 16 seconds later.
Farragut made seven more from the line in the final 53 seconds to clinch the win.
And now, it’s on to facing Bearden for a fifth time. It’s the first time two programs from the same city have faced each other in the state’s largest classification girls’ basketball championship since 2015’s Oakland-Blackman finale.
Blackman won that in a double-overtime thriller.
And Sevier County (2002) was the last Knoxville-area team to win a girls’ state championship in the highest classification.
“We’ve come up short every time we’ve played (Bearden). But I have this feeling that this time is going to be the time,” said Farragut senior Keeleigh Rogers, who had 11 points Friday. “None of us are on each other’s courts or anything like that.
“We know them so well. We’ve played every single one of them for years. So, yeah, we’re all super excited and ready to go.”
5STAR PHOTOS: Farragut Lady Admirals vs. Cookeville – 2022 Class 4A Semifinals