Lady Bears upset Blackman in TMSAA sectional

From staff reports

CLARKSVILLE — After losing to Blackman by nine and eight points during the season, Mt. Juliet coach Rick Johnson put in some new wrinkles for Tuesday's TMSAA Midstate Sectional opener and saw them work to perfection in the Lady Bears' 39-35 upset win at Rossview High.

Playing a four-guard, one-post set, the post took off down the court following a Blackman basket, taking big girls Bria Dial with her.

The guard closest to the basket grabbed the ball as it dropped out of the net and quickly inbounded the ball to one of the other three guards before the Lady Blaze could set their press, not unlike how Kurt Rambis and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ignited the Los Angeles Lakers' fastbreak even off of made baskets during the Showtime era 30 years ago.

"It couldn't have worked any better," Johnson said after his Lady Bears moved to 14-4 for the season and into a 4:15 p.m. semifinal against Christiana on Thursday. "I can't wait to watch the film."

The Lady Blaze led 11-8 following the first quarter and, thanks to a Dial three-pointer at the buzzer, 16-13 at halftime as Mt. Juliet hit just 5 of 24 shots.

But the Lady Bears hit 57 percent from the floor in the second half to go up 26-24 going into the fourth quarter.

Seventh-grade point guard Monako Woods sank all six of her free throws in the second half in leading the Lady Bears with 14 points while two-guard Cassidy Harris had all 12 of her tallies after halftime. Tavie Bell scored seven points, Allison Mayeux four and Kathryn Bean two.

Dial dropped in 14 to lead the Lady Blaze. Fellow post Alex Booker, who scored 17 in each of the previous two games with Mt. Juliet, was held scoreless this time.