Bartlett girls' dream season ends one win short of first TSSAA basketball championship
MURFREESBORO − Bartlett girls basketball coach Wes Shappley noticed two things right away that proved costly in its 58-49 loss to Bradley Central in the TSSAA Class 4A state championship game Saturday.
It began in the first quarter at Middle Tennessee State's Murphy Center, during which Mallory Collier and Faye Williams were each whistled for two fouls. With the Panthers' top two interior defenders neutralized, the Bears' freshman phenom Kimora Fields feasted.
Bartlett (34-8) was also beset by stagnant half-court offense. The Panthers had only one assist for the entire game and got much of their offense off of second-chance points and fast breaks.
"We do a great job being offensive rebounders and getting in transition, but we struggled to get the ball moving when we didn't get something in transition," Shappley said. "... A couple times we forced it, but we're gonna live with forces because we typically get rewarded with offensive rebounds. But just not great ball movement."
Throughout its dream season, Bartlett has been strong attacking the glass and creating defensive pressure. Against Bradley Central (35-1), those strengths enabled the Panthers to cut a 14-point third-quarter deficit to five with 3:38 to play.
Bartlett out-rebounded the Bears, 36-24, including 17 offensive rebounds — 12 of which came in the second half. It forced nine second-half steals and got hands on many more loose balls.
It just wasn't enough to overcome a 14-of-47 shooting performance, or the inside dominance of Fields (18 points on 8-of-10 shooting).
Despite the best efforts of Nevaeh Scott (15 points), Carrington Jones (12), Raven Sims (12) and Miss Basketball finalist and North Carolina State signee Collier (eight points, 10 rebounds), the Panthers will still be searching for their first state championship next season.
MISS BASKETBALL FINALIST:Why Bartlett girls basketball can lean on Mallory Collier this season
BEST EVER:Why 2023 Bartlett girls basketball team could be one of the best in school history
"They're tough kids," Shappley said. "These kids have played a lot of high level basketball. ... I know it's not easy, but I'm extremely proud of their resilience and their fighting mentality."
Bartlett played a daunting schedule chock full of in-season tournaments, with 16 games against out-of-state opponents. Five of the Panthers' opponents this season won state championships in their respective classes — Conway (Arkansas), Hoover (Alabama), Lafayette Christian (Louisiana), Liberty (Texas) and Parkway (Louisiana). They lost just three games to teams from Tennessee.
They'll remember the final loss, but they'll also remember everything else that got them to that point.
"Even though we didn't get to our goal, I feel like our season was great and we worked hard the whole season," Collier said.
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: TSSAA basketball: Bartlett girls fall to Bradley Central in 4A final
