Upperman celebrates as they win 76-54 over McMinn Central High School in the Division I Class AA Girl’s basketball semi-finals at the Murphy Center on MTSU’s campus March 11, 2016 in Murfreesboro, Tenn.
MURFREESBORO — The overall attendance for the 2016 TSSAA Girls Basketball State Championships has surpassed last year with three championship games remaining on Saturday.
Total attendance through Friday’s semifinals is at 25,816 — up from 24,389 from 2015. That total included all three days of tournament play.
Attendance has been helped by two of three days of being over 9,000. On Wednesday, the overall attendance was at 9,261 and there were 9,243 on Friday. Those two days coincided with Riverdale games.
The Murfreesboro school brought more than 800 students to its quarterfinal game with Morristown West and more than 1,000 on Friday in the game against Memphis Central.
7-AAA stronghold: District 7-AAA has shown it continues to be one of the top girls basketball leagues in the state.
A team from 7-AAA will play for a state championship for the seventh straight year. League teams have won four titles in that span — Riverdale in 2010, 2012 and 2013 and Blackman in 2014 and 2015.
Oakland made it an all-Rutherford County final in 2015.
Albert sighting: Former Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth was in attendance during the early portion of Friday’s schedule.
Haynesworth, who is dating former Tennessee Lady Vols basketball player Brittany Jackson, was caring for the couple’s son, Ayden, while Jackson was studying up on Friday’s winners.
Jackson, along with Tennessee Titans play-by-play announcer Mike Keith, will do commentary for Saturday’s 1 p.m. Class AAA championship game, while 104.5 The Zone’s Chad Withrow and Jonathan Hutton will call both the 3:30 p.m. Class A and 6 p.m. Class AA championships.
All three title games will be broadcast on WUXP-30.
5 for 5: Riverdale will play for its fifth Class AAA girls basketball state championship on Saturday when it plays Oak Ridge at 1 p.m.
If the Lady Warriors win, all five titles will have come under different head coaches. Micheal Burt led Riverdale to its first title in 2007. Hillary Hodges was the head coach in the 2010 title. John Wild led Riverdale to the 2012 title and Cory Barrett was the head coach for the 2013 team.
Sister act: You could say Friday’s Class A semifinal between South Greene and Community was a family affair as two pairs of sisters squared off.
South Greene’s Kinsely and Braelyn Wykle got the upper hand, though.
Braelyn Wykle, a freshman, tallied 10 points, four assists and a steal in the narrow victory, while the sophomore Kinsley Wykle knocked down 5 of her 6 shots from the free throw line, finishing with five points, two assists a block and a steal.
Community’s Mercedes and Jordan Huntley weren’t nearly as productive, combining to score just three points of 1-of-9 shooting.
Lamb’s chops: South Greene’s Taylor Lamb delivered the most impressive individual performance on Friday, scoring a game-high 32 points on 11-of-17 shooting while pulling down 12 rebounds and dishing out two assists in her team’s 71-67 win over Community.
Lamb, a Class A Miss Basketball finalist, delivered a 23-point, 12-rebound effort in the Lady Rebels’ 76-65 quarterfinal win over Pickett County.
However, McMinn County Class AA Miss Basketball finalist Jacobi Lynn still the highest single-game point total after scoring a tournament-high 33 points on Thursday.
High-low: Friday’s action at Murphy Center also featured the best and worst team offensive performances of the tournament.
Riverdale, which secured a Class AAA state champion berth with its 22-point triumph over Memphis Central, posted a tournament-high 80 points in Friday’s semifinal win.
Meanwhile, fellow Class AAA school Bradley Central managed just 31 points in its seven-point setback to Oak Ridge — the Bearettes’ second-lowest scoring output of the season. Westview didn’t fare much better, struggling to a season-low 32 points in its semifinal loss to East Nashville.
Contributing: Tom Kreager, Sam Brown, Michael Murphy