Whitehaven girls basketball beats Maryville in quarterfinals for first state tournament win

MURFREESBORO — Whitehaven nearly blew a double-digit fourth-quarter lead, but the Tigers were able to hang on for a 66-62 Class AAA quarterfinal win over Maryville on Wednesday.

The win came in Whitehaven's first girls basketball state tournament appearance. The school opened in 1911. 

"We’re going to have a good time," Whitehaven coach Lynn Smith said. "This is our school’s first time here for girls basketball in the history of our program. So every moment and everything we do is history and we love it." 

The Tigers (28-3) led by 16 at the end of the third, but Maryville (30-5) went 7-of-10 from the 3-point line in the fourth quarter and slashed the lead to one heading into the final minute. But the Tigers were able to get stops on Maryville's final few possessions.

Maryville's Denae Fritz, a Class AAA Miss Basketball finalist, scored 16 of her 22 points in the second half. 

"That’s the best shooting team we’ve seen with four kids out there shooting the ball. We’re used to seeing that from ourselves," Whitehaven coach Lynn Smith said. "It was a good shooting night for them but it was a good driving night for us."

The Tigers pounced on the Red Raiders with five steals in the first four minutes and jumped out to a 10-3 first-quarter lead that they held for the rest of the game. 

But they took awhile getting used to shooting at MTSU's Murphy Center, going 9-of-29 from the field in the first half. 

"We kept shooting from the (men's college) range because we thought that was the 3-point line but it was the little white line right there," point guard Se'Quoia Allmond said. ""But we kept shooting far back thinking it was the regular 3-point so we kept coming short.”

Kennedy Claybrook, who hit a pair of threes in the first half, was the leading scorer for Whitehaven with 20 points on 9-of-13 shooting. Allmond scored 12. Serena Lee scored 11.

"I was seeing that they were overplaying us a lot and it was wide open,” Claybrook said. 

Whitehaven advances to play Stone Memorial in the semifinals at 10 a.m. on Friday. 

"They’re athletic, they shoot it well and they presented some problems for us," Maryville coach Scott West said. "I knew that we were better than what we were in the third quarter and I think we showed that. But they’re a good basketball team and if they keep it together I think they have a shot to win the whole thing."