Community senior Sarah Pierce goes up for a layup during the first half of Friday’s Class A semifinal against South Greene.
MURFREESBORO — After getting knocked out of the state tournament by South Greene on a last-second shot last season, Community hoped to avoid that same fate in a rematch with the Lady Rebels in the Class A semifinals Friday at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
While the game didn’t come down to the buzzer like last year’s quarterfinal, the Viqueens still came up just short, despite a fourth-quarter comeback, in a 71-67 loss.
“We just wanted to win so bad and it was a big deal,” Community senior Lacey Reed said. “We came into this game knowing that they beat us last year on a last-second shot and we didn’t want that to happen again. We just gave it our all and our all wasn’t enough.”
Community trailed 21-16 after the first quarter, but Reed closed out an 11-4 run with a layup right before the buzzer for a 28-27 halftime advantage.
The Viqueens (30-3) hoped to keep the second-quarter momentum rolling into the second half, but Lady Rebels’ sophomore Taylor Lamb played lights-out in the third quarter, racking up 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting while knocking down all three of her free throws to give South Greene (34-4) a 49-39 lead.
She finished with game-highs of 32 points and 12 rebounds.
“(Last game coach) said, ‘I shouldn’t have to make you go get the ball and go create stuff,’” Lamb said. “I wasn’t having him come up to me and say it again, so I was going to do it the whole entire game.”
Community rallied, starting the fourth quarter with an 11-3 run to go ahead 52-50, as senior Sarah Pierce had five points in 12 seconds.
“I knew if we didn’t win it was going to be my last game,” Pierce said. “It just clicked.”
Pierce finished with a team-high 26 points but fouled out with just more than two minutes left after hitting a 3-pointer to put her team back up two.
“That’s tough for us points-wise and that’s tough for us ball-handling,” Community coach Allison Martin said.
Community led 60-58 when South Greene strung together a 6-0 run to take the lead for good.
The Viqueens kept it close down the stretch, but South Greene scored 11 of its last 13 points from the free throw line to seal the victory.
Reach Sam Brown at 615-259-8232 and on Twitter @SamBrownTN.
Community senior Lacey Reed elevates for a first-half jumper during Friday’s Class A quarterfinal against South Greene.
Community senior Jordan Huntley (right) dribbles along the baseline around South Greene’s Kinsley Wykle during Friday’s Class A semifinal.