How TCA's girls reached the Division II-A state championship game after a scoreless first quarter

NASHVILLE — Trinity Christian Academy didn't score a point in the opening quarter Thursday in the Division II-A girls basketball state semifinals.

It took three quarters to overcome that drought, then another four minutes to win.

TCA defeated Tipton-Rosemark 64-59 in overtime at Lipscomb's Allen Arena.

"We spent the whole game kind of digging ourselves out of that start we had,"  TCA coach Matthew Coble said of the school's 12-0 deficit entering the second quarter. "We missed some easy baskets and kind of got rattled.

"Tipton-Rosemark made us play a little faster than we wanted to. That's a credit to them."

TCA (31-1) plays The King's Academy (25-6) at noon Saturday in the DII-A girls championship game in both team's first state final. TCA reached the Division I Class A semifinals in 2007.

"It's been a long past few years with them," said Trinity Christian senior Emma Pagoaga, who had a game-high 25 points and 13 rebounds. "I'm just really excited to have another game with them."

This is the school's first year in Division II. The win is TCA's fourth over Tipton-Rosemark (23-7) and first in overtime.

TCA's Sally Howell added 16 points, hitting four 3-pointers. Howell hit a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers at the top of the key to pull TCA to within 42-40 with 4:14 left.

"She hit two big ones from deep," Tipton-Rosemark coach Cedric Anderson said. "I'm like, 'Please miss one for us.' But she made them. That's what big players are supposed to do in big-time situations."

Brianna Hall and Meagan Sanfratello scored 18 apiece to lead Tipton-Rosemark.

Pagoaga's layup with 58 seconds left in the fourth quarter gave TCA a 51-49 lead. But TRA tied it on Hall's layup with 18 seconds left to send it into overtime. A 6-0 run in OT helped TCA hang on for the win.

Reach Tom Kreager at tkreager@gannett.com and on Twitter @Kreager.