The Cocke County Lady Red faced the South Gibson Hornets in a TSSAA Class 3A state tournament quarterfinal at the Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center on Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — For a brief stretch of Thursday’s Class 3A state quarterfinal, Cocke County’s girls basketball team displayed the magic that helped it make a run to the 2024 state semifinals.
The Lady Red had trailed South Gibson for the majority of the morning contest at the Murphy Center and then went on one of its patented runs to get back in it.
The special sauce finally dried up, though.
South Gibson shot 48.3 percent from the floor and made the key stops in the final two minutes to walk away with the 43-39 win.
Jade Reed led the Lady Hornets (28-8) in the win with 15 points. They’ll take on either Heritage or Portland in Friday’s semifinals.
Karmine Carmichael led Cocke County (29-8) with 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting. She added nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
Down just three (37-34) with 2 minutes, 30 seconds to go. Cocke County turned the ball over as it tried to conjure up one last run like it had many times over in contest. South Gibson missed two foul shots on the other end, keeping the opportunity on the table for Cocke County to rally.
Cocke County coach Boddie Bible called timeout at the 1:59 mark of the fourth.
Nothing materialized from that possession, either.
“We were trying to screen and get Karmine (Carmichael) going downhill towards the basket. And if (South Gibson defensive) help came, we were trying to find Blakelyn (Clevenger) in the corner for 3,” Bible said. “But like I said, South Gibson — I’ve watched film on them — they may be the best defensive team in the state. We pride ourselves on defense, too, hence the score being 43-39. That’s pretty low scoring. But they exploded it, and we weren’t able to get going downhill at all tonight. That’s hats off to them. They’re very good defensively.”
South Gibson’s Faith Reed sank two foul shots with 1:13 to go to make it 39-34 Hornets.
Cocke County whiffed on two layup chances on the ensuing possession. South Gibson iced the game with two more free throws with 48 seconds remaining.
“I think switching back into our man-to-man (defense), which I guess is what I’m known for as a coach, it’s kind of our bread and butter. And I felt like in the fourth quarter we needed to switch up the pace of the game,” South Gibson coach Catie Embrey. “And I feel like they did a good job of executing what we needed to execute in the fourth.”
SmartBank is the proud sponsor of 5Star Preps postseason basketball coverage.
South Gibson, twice, tried to run away from Cocke County in the first half, and the Lady Red wouldn’t let them.
After Cocke Country trailed by six early, Blakelyn Clevenger hit a 3 in the final minute of the first quarter that knotted the score at 10-all.
Then Carmichael started cooking in the second quarter, burying a 3 and two mid-range jumpers in a 7-4 spurt that cut South Gibson’s lead to 20-17 with 2:54 left in the half.
Cocke County never led in the first half, though. It trailed 22-17 at the break.
South Gibson guard Karson Dunn sank a deep 3 in the first 20 seconds of the second half that capitalized on a CC turnover and expanded the lead to eight. Hornets
The Lady Hornets’ lead swelled to 10 with 2:34 left in the third, 31-21, but Cocke County didn’t let them get away.
Brookelyn Clevenger’s 3-point play with 6 seconds left made the Lady Red’s deficit just 33-30.
That surge turned into an 11-0 run, as Carmichael’s two put-back scores in the opening minute of the fourth kept the momentum rolling to give Cocke County its first lead — 34-33.
“These girls are tough. Every game we play, we pride ourselves in being competitive,” Bible said. “We’re not ever going to go away. We finally caught (South Gibson) and got ahead, but sort of went cold scoring the rest of the way.
“But these girls, they’re as tough as any kids I’ve been around. We’ve dealt with the death of a player, the floods, our senior tearing her ACL. They don’t make excuses. They show up and keep competing. They’re the best competitors I’ve ever been around.”
Cocke County returns nearly all of its roster for the 2025-26 season, save two seniors.
Said Blakelyn Clevenger: “We’ll be back.”
PHOTO GALLERY — CLICK HERE.