This story was updated at 5:52 p.m. to correct the record of Bradley Central.
With the BlueCross Basketball State Championships set to begin tomorrow at Middle Tennessee State's Murphy Center, here is an overview of the Class 4A girls' state tournament bracket that includes Bradley Central (31-1) and Cleveland (23-9).
.905
This is the winning percentage of Bearettes' head coach Jason Reuter, who is 418-44 overall in his 14th year with the historic program. Bradley Central is ranked 23rd in the country by MaxPreps.com and its only loss this season came to Wesleyan, which is the No. 2-ranked team in Georgia. The Bearettes have outscored their postseason competition on average 79.3-25.7 and will be hard to stop from winning back-to-back titles, which would bring their gold ball total to eight.
First timers
Lincoln County (25-9) will appear at the TSSAA state tournament for the first time in program history. The Fayetteville program has a strong junior class led by Abby Bryan, who averages 17.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game to go with 86 3-point makes on the season.
The Lady Falcons will draw Cleveland in Wednesday's state quarterfinals at noon. The Lady Blue Raiders return to the state tournament for the first time since 2008 and have done so under first year head coach Bianca Hensley. Cleveland is led by junior two-sport star Lauren Hurst, who averages 14.8 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.8 blocks per game. Hurst and teammate Emma Smith have combined for 94 3-pointers on a team that averages nearly seven treys per game.
Miss Basketball showdown
All eyes will be on Wednesday's 3:15 eastern quarterfinal showdown between Bradley Central and undefeated Clarksville (31-0). Each team has a Miss Basketball finalist, with the Bearettes led by sophomore 6-foot forward Kimora Fields and the Lady Wildcats driven by Clemson signee Imari Berry.
Fields is on her way to blowing out the previous Bradley Central record for single season field goal percentage as she has made 293-of-412 field goal attempts (.711) on her way to averaging 22.6 points per game. She is also a defensive menace, averaging 2.7 steals and 1.2 blocks per game.
The 5-foot-10 Berry, who is a McDonald's All-American, averages 24.1 points per game to go along with over four steals per contest. She is one 3-pointer away from 100 long-range makes this season.
Last-second heroics
Bradley Central's state championship runs in 2019 and 2023 both included game-winning shots at the final buzzer. Hannah Lombard became an instant legend with a game-winning 3-pointer to beat Houston in the 2019 state title game, while Harmonie Ware made a putback with under a second left to beat Bearden in last year's state quarterfinals.
For any team to take the Bearettes down to the wire would be extremely impressive considering Reuter's team has forced the fourth quarter mercy rule in every postseason game.
Pair of one-time state champs
Coffee County (33-3) will make only its second state tournament appearance since the Lady Red Raiders won the whole thing in their 1993 debut. They will take on Dobyns Bennett (24-8) on Wednesday at 1:45, with the winner facing Bradley Central or Clarksville in Friday's noon semifinal.
The Sevier County Bearettes (31-3) are the only other state champion in the field. They won state in 2002 and will face Bartlett (28-10) in Wednesday's 10:30 a.m. quarterfinal, with the winner facing either Cleveland or Lincoln County in Friday's 10:30 a.m. semifinal.
Contact Patrick MacCoon at pmaccoon@timesfreepress.com.