Central High girls advance in state basketball tournament action

image and story from CommercialAppeal.com

Nina Davis scores two of her team-high 17 points in leading the Lady Warriors past Murfreesboro Blackman on Thursday.

The Central Lady Warriors picked up the tempo here Thursday, and picked up a quarterfinal victory to go with it.

Using a tenacious pressure defense and forcing the pace at every opportunity, the Lady Warriors breezed past Murfreesboro Blackman, 57-38, at the Murphy Center. The victory puts the Lady Warriors (27-9) into today's 5:30 p.m. semifinal against Johnson City Science Hill. The Toppers (32-4) advanced earlier in the day with a 52-50 victory over Clarksville.

"We knew if we kept the pressure on, they would start to turn the ball over," said Central guard Danielle Ballard, who had nine points and four steals.

Added Aaliyah Whiteside, who had 10 points, "We knew their guards were kind of little, so we wanted to keep trapping and pressuring the ball."

The strategy worked pretty close to perfection; Blackman committed 22 turnovers while being forced to play at an unfamiliar -- and unwanted -- speed.

"We like to get it up and down the floor, but they forced us to play a little faster than we normally do," said Blackman coach Chad Hibdon. "We rushed some of our shots."

The Warriors were playing on the home floor of former Central standout Tina Stewart. The Middle Tennessee State player was fatally stabbed and her roommate has been charged.

Both teams honored Stewart in the pre-game warm-ups. Central wore purple T-shirts with Stewart's picture on the front and purple socks -- purple being Stewart's favorite color. Blackman wore T-shirts with Stewart's name on the back and the motto "2Gether."

Once the game got underway, Central played with plenty of intensity and focus, hounding Blackman's ball-handlers up and down the court. After building a 22-16 lead at halftime, Central concentrated on getting the ball inside to Nina Davis, who led the Warriors with 17 points, including a 9-of-9 effort from the line. Tia Wooten chipped in with 13 for the Lady Warriors, who shot 50 percent from the floor (21-of-42).

"I think we did a good job in the second half," said Lady Warriors coach Niki Bray. "We settled down and started getting some good shots. And Nina got some great and-ones. She's just so slender -- she's skinny as a stick -- that she doesn't get a lot of the calls."

Said Davis, "I missed a couple early and Coach just told me to calm down. After that, I just started attacking the basket."

About the only blot on Central's night was a first-half technical on Bray.

"I got it for a profanity he thought he heard," she said. "I said 'God dang.' I told him 'you're ears are too sensitive.' They tell you in the pre-game that the refs will talk to you, and then they don't talk to you."

Kortnay Cox scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Lady Blaze, which ends the year with a 24-7 mark.