MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The Cleveland Lady Blue Raiders accomplished both of their team goals in Bianca Hensley's first season as their head coach: They were “relentless,” and they made it to the BlueCross Basketball Championships.
Cleveland's magical state tournament run ended with a 65-55 loss to Bartlett in Friday's TSSAA Class 4A semifinals, with the Memphis-area program making nine 3-pointers to advance to Saturday's title game against reigning champion Bradley Central (31-1), a 55-35 winner against Coffee County.
(READ MORE: Stout defense helps Bearettes return to 4A state title game)
Cleveland junior sharpshooter Emma Smith scored a team-high 16 points and drilled a pair of 3-pointers in a 21-point second quarter for the Lady Blue Raiders (24-10), who wrapped up their time at Middle Tennessee State University's Murphy Center — nicknamed the Glass House — without a title but not without making an impression.
“Coach B really instilled so much confidence and passion in us this season,” Smith said. “She had us out at the football field at 5 a.m. and kept telling us about how we are going to be at the Glass House in March. She was right. She gave us confidence the whole way through and helped us get our program back to the place we want to be at the end of every season.”
As one of two teams from Bradley County in Friday’s semifinals, Cleveland made quite a statement after not being ranked in the top 10 of its classification all season in The Associated Press state poll.
Staff photo by Patrick MacCoon / Cleveland junior Lauren Hurst, middle, comes up with a rebound in Friday's Class 4A state semifinal against Bartlett at Middle Tennessee State University.Lauren Hurst, a junior who led Cleveland to its second straight volleyball state title this past fall, helped the basketball program to its seventh state tournament trip and fourth semifinal appearance. Two days after she had 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and a block in a quarterfinal against Lincoln County, the 6-foot-2 guard closed the season with 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block against Bartlett.
(READ MORE: Lauren Hurst leads Cleveland to first Final Four appearance since 2008)
“They are one of the toughest groups I have ever coached in my 11 years,” said Hensley, who took over in Cleveland after previously coaching Nashville-area program Stewarts Creek. “We played three freshmen, two sophomores, three juniors and two seniors. There were so many moments this season where we could have folded. There was even a moment tonight when we were down by 14 that we could have. But these girls have tremendous fight, and they take pride in wearing the blue of Cleveland.
“This has been an amazing experience. They are the first team in 16 years for our program to make it to the Final Four. They have done everything we asked them to do, and now going forward we will have a very high standard to uphold.”
Bartett (30-10) was propelled to its second straight state final by Carrington Jones, who scored 13 of her game-high 23 points in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Blue Raiders trailed 46-32 with the third quarter more than halfway gone, but they fought back as junior Tamiah Tanner started a 12-0 run with her 3-pointer from the top of the key. Another spark in the rally was provided by freshman Laney Copeland — she finished with seven points and a pair of steals off the bench — and Smith’s layup nine seconds into the fourth quarter capped the impressive run as Cleveland cut Bartlett's lead to 46-44.
However, the Lady Panthers answered with an 11-0 run in which Jones scored the first seven points as they seized the momentum back for good.
Cleveland sophomore point guard Ilianis Rodriguez also propelled a double-digit comeback in the first half.
Rodriguez scored her team’s first seven points of the second quarter off an impressive drive through two defenders for a running floater, a 3-pointer from the top of the right wing, and a steal-and-score sequence from midcourt. She also assisted on the first of Smith’s 3-pointers with an inbounds pass to cut Cleveland's deficit to 19-16.
“We know what it takes now,” Rodriguez said. “We have really worked to get where we are. We didn’t have any chemistry when we all first got together with just one starter back from last year, but now we have a group who is really connected and hungry to come back for more.”
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.