Story and photos by Noah McKay
MURFREESBORO – The York Dragonettes advanced to their second state championship game in four years in a 60-45 win over Gatlinburg-Pittman on Friday at the Murphy Center in the TSSAA Class 2A State Tournament semifinals.
Iowa State signee Reese Beaty exploded for 31 points as the Dragonettes set up a state tournament matchup with Westview for the third time in four years.
“We started off not very good, but we did pretty well,” said York head coach Michael Green. “That’s the third time we played them. We missed some uncharacteristic shots, but we stepped up with how bad we wanted to win.”
The Dragonettes struggled from the field early for the second straight game, missing their first seven shots before Beaty converted an and-one to break the scoreless tie. Maliyah Glasper answered with a bucket but Beaty’s first midrange jumper of the game regained a York lead. After back-and-forth scoring Beaty finished the frame with four straight to give York a 13-12 lead after one.
Beaty took over the basketball game in the second quarter, scoring 12 points in the frame as part of 8-0 and 7-0 Dragonette runs as they made it 32-21 at halftime.
Cali Franklin scored four points early in the third stretched the lead to 37-25 with 5:03 left in the third. Emma Cooper, Raylee Werner and Beaty each scored later in the quarter as the Dragonettes led 45-32 after three.
The Lady Highlanders cut the deficit to 10 two minutes into the fourth quarter, but Franklin connected on a three and Beaty added five points to give the Dragonettes a 55-40 lead. Franklin then capped the game with two layups as the Dragonettes rolled to the win.
“We hit some shots,” said Green. “We hit our foul shots. Defensively, if we’ve got our five best defenders out there I feel pretty confident with how we can play man-to-man.”
Beaty tallied 31 points with 10 rebounds and four assists. It came after she scored just nine against Memphis Business Academy in the quarterfinals.
“Wednesday we were all a little off,” said Beaty. “We all were motivating each other. We trust each other.”
Her coach said he was not surprised by her bounce-back performance.
“I was a little surprised we didn’t shoot the ball better,” said Green. “I’m not surprised.”
Franklin scored 13 points with five rebounds. Zoe Gibson scored five. Cooper tallied four points with seven rebounds. Werner scored three points with seven rebounds and five assists. Addison McElhaney scored two points.
The Dragonettes (30-5) will face Westview (32-1) in the Class 2A state championship game. Westview eliminated York in the state quarterfinals in 2023 and state championship game in 2022.
“We know their zone is great,” said Green. “We’ve got to have people step up and knock shots down. You’re in the state championship game. You’re living everybody’s dream. Be grateful about it. Thank the Lord for it. Westview’s a great team, we know that. We don’t care if nobody is giving us a chance. We’ve got to give ourselves a chance by playing like we can. If we play like we can, we have a great chance.”
Tipoff is set for 1:30 p.m. Saturday at the Murphy Center.
