Chargerettes fall to Gibson surge

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- The McMinn Central High School girls' basketball team has won nearly 100 games the last three seasons, but for the third time in program history it fell one win shy of claiming the state championship.

The top-ranked Chargerettes built a 19-point lead early in the third quarter, but defending champion Gibson County countered with a scoring frenzy to close out the quarter and win 63-60 at Middle Tennessee State University on Saturday.

"We handled their pressure pretty good for most of the day, but they got in that zone where they really started fighting back and we got a little antsy and turned it over too much," said Chargerettes senior Madison Lee. "They started capitalizing on every mistake we made and just made an unbelievable run."

Lee had led a second-half charge by McMinn Central in the semifinals, but her 3-point attempt from the top of the key with two seconds remaining bounced off the back of the rim Saturday, leaving the Chargerettes short again in the title game.

State tournament MVP Heather Butler scored 17 of her game-high 28 points during a 24-8 run that stretched from the final five minutes of the third quarter into the opening 45 seconds of the fourth.

The Lady Pioneers (35-1), who had a 55-game winning streak snapped earlier this season before winning their last 15, had blistered their first two tournament foes by a combined 59 points. But the Chargerettes used a series of four scoring runs of at least 6-0 in the first half to build an 11-point halftime lead, then began the third quarter with a 10-2 run for a commanding 44-25 lead before Butler sparked the rally.

Butler, who broke a 25-year-old state tournament record with 93 points in three games, brought the Murphy Center crowd to its feet with a 28-foot 3-pointer late in the third period and an off-balance shot that she tossed high off the backboard as she was being knocked to the floor. She made the

ensuing free throw to give Gibson County its first lead since late in the first quarter.

"We knew we were getting whipped pretty bad for most of the game, and to be honest, when I looked up at the scoreboard and saw how far down we were, it just made me mad," said Butler, a UT-Martin signee. "I'm the leader of the team, so I had to put down the big shots when I got open."

After making 48 percent of its first-half field-goal attempts, McMinn Central connected on 60 percent in the second half but turned the ball over eight times during Gibson County's third-quarter rally.

"We shot the ball well and for most of the game we handled their pressure," said Central coach Johnny Morgan, whose team is 98-7 the last three seasons, advancing to the state tournament each year. "But once they started putting more pressure on our inbounds passes and trapping us in the backcourt, we got rattled a few times, and that's all they needed.

"Any time you get somebody down, you have to keep beating them as bad as you can, because the good teams won't give up."