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Why resumption of the TSSAA girls state basketball tournament could be so big for Memphis

Khari Thompson
Memphis Commercial Appeal

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With the TSSAA's announcement this week that the Division I girls basketball state tournament is still postponed instead of cancelled, the remaining teams are still hanging on to hope. 

But the announcement could be potentially historic for Shelby County, which has two of the four teams left in Class AAA — Arlington and Whitehaven.

They are on opposite sides of the bracket and a win away from the first all-Memphis-area public school girls basketball state title game since 1928 when Millington beat Bartlett 27-22. 

"It would just be good for Memphis in general for girls basketball," Arlington coach Wes Shappley said. "I don't think our kids get the respect that they're merited because they're from Memphis. Typically Middle Tennessee and East Tennessee, especially in the AAA realm of things, have been the dominant forces in girls basketball in the state for pretty much all-time."

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The most recent all-Memphis girls basketball final was the 2009 Division II-A state title game Bishop Byrne, which has since closed, beat Lausanne 42-39.

An emotional roller-coaster

Last Wednesday, Arlington and Whitehaven earned their first state tournament wins in girls basketball. By Thursday night, the tournament was postponed due to COVID-19. 

"It was an emotional roller-coaster because this was our first time coming down here and getting a win," Arlington point guard Karlee Bates said. " After hearing that it would be postponed, we were feeling a lot of different things. Mostly sad."

Neither team had made a state tournament before 2015. Whitehaven, which opened in 1911, defeated Maryville 66-62 in its first state tournament appearance on Wednesday. Then Arlington, which lost in the quarterfinals the past two seasons, beat Brentwood 62-56.

"When he (Coach Lynn Smith) told us, you would think that somebody died. Everybody just isolated themselves and put their head down," Whitehaven point guard Se'Quoia Allmond said. "Some people started crying. And you know we have one senior Shelbee (Brown), and that’s the toughest person on the team. She started crying. Seeing her cry just hit another emotion that made everybody else cry."

At the end of their trip back from Murfreesboro, Arlington got an escort from the local police department back to the school. Bates said it was uplifting to see the support from the local community. 

"We got to see that there were a lot of fans out there and a lot of students. Our boys basketball team was out there cheering for us," Bates said. "And that was a great feeling, to know we had support even though we didn't make it all the way."

Allmond said that realizing that the situation was out of the team's control helped her cope with having her first state tournament run cut short. 

"We were sad at first but then we had to realize that it’s not like we lost. We couldn’t avoid the virus or make it go away so we just had to stay positive and hope something good comes out of this," Allmond said. 

If the tournament resumes, Whitehaven (28-3) will play Stone Memorial and Arlington (31-5) will play Lebanon in the semifinals. Arlington beat Whitehaven 59-42 in its season opener.

"I believed it (Whitehaven vs. Arlington) would happen. Both teams were playing well at the right time," Smith said. "I think that if this were to play out that both teams would make it to the finals."