Story by Noah McKay
Photos by Michael Lindsay
MURFREESBORO – The Cookeville Lady Cavaliers’ season came to an end in a 55-43 loss to Bartlett in the semifinal round of the TSSAA Class 4A State Tournament on Friday at the Murphy Center.
The Lady Cavaliers battled throughout with the two-time state runners’ up, but were unable to overcome shooting 24% from the field as they fell in the state semifinals for the third time in four seasons.
“Rough first quarter and a rough shooting night for us,” said CHS head coach Jamie Gillies. “Credit to Bartlett. They’re so long and big, it altered a lot of our shots. I’m super proud of my team though. They never quit. The grittiest team that I, maybe, have ever coached. Right now we don’t have any D1 offers. We just come out and play as a team every night.”
The Lady Panthers started red-hot from the field, making five first-quarter threes as they opened up a 17-5 lead. Charlie Roby answered with a layup as BHS led 17-7 after one. Macy Hudson opened the second quarter with a layup, but Bartlett answered with five straight to take a 22-9 lead with 5:12 left in the first half. The Lady Cavaliers would never cut the deficit to single-digits again.
The Lady Panthers stretched the lead to as many as 15 in the frame. Three late Hudson points made it 29-15 at halftime.
“They shot the ball better than I think they have all season,” said Gillies. “We had to adjust our gameplan in the second half and it was (a tie).”
The Lady Cavaliers refused to go away in the third quarter. A BHS jumper made it 37-22 but Roby and Kendyll McCloud answered with four free throws to cut it to 11. The Lady Panthers answered with four free throws but Callie Reeder made a jumper and Roby tacked on a free throw to make it 43-31 after 3.
The teams traded baskets throughout the fourth quarter with the Lady Cavs ultimately being unable to mount a comeback.
“It’s hard to rebound against their bigs. We usually speed teams up, they sped us up tonight a little bit,” said Gillies. “I don’t dislike the shots we got, they just didn’t go in.”
Roby led all scorers with 20 points.
Hudson scored 12 with seven rebounds. Cara Lee Gilbert scored six points with six rebounds. Reeder scored three points and Kendyll McCloud added two.
The Cookeville senior class of Hudson, McCloud and Lilly McCarter were part of three state tournaments and three semifinal appearances.
“Coach said that not a lot of people bet on us at the beginning of the year, and we took that to heart,” said Hudson. “We made a goal to get back here and I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. I couldn’t ask for a better year.”
The Lady Cavaliers finished the season with a 25-8 record. They were the Region 4/4A tournament champions and reached the state tournament for the fifth time in school history. All three of their wins in the state tournament have come under Gillies.
“They never quit,” said Gillies. “They play for each other. That’s who they are. That’s our culture. We play tough. We play hard.”
