Camryn Brown (12) and The Northview Cougars matched up with the Jackson South Side Hawks in a TSSAA Class 3A state tournament quarterfinal at the Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center on Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Northview girls advanced, 55-48. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — She might be a sophomore by roster, but Northview Academy guard Mikinna Russell played Thursday like a seasoned vet.
And what a time to do it, right?
At the state tournament?
Russell scored 13 points and made pivotal plays in the fourth quarter that put the Class 3A state quarterfinal against heavily favored South Side in the Lady Cougars’ favor.
“She made some huge plays,” NVA coach Brooke Shelley said. “But that’s what she does every day in practice. That’s what she’s done all year for us. I thought she stepped up huge.
“For her to be a sophomore and in this environment, to do what she did was huge.”
Her play and Camryn Brown’s perimeter shot helped Northview win 55-48 and to advance to Friday’s state semifinal at MTSU’s Murphy Center, where they’ll face defending state champion Dyersburg (28-4) at 5:30 p.m. Central time.
The semifinal appearance will mark the second all-time for NVA (32-4), which reached the penultimate round in its first-ever appearance at state in 2021.
DOWN THE STRETCH
Mikinna Russell and the Northview Cougars matched up with the Jackson South Side Hawks in a TSSAA Class 3A state tournament quarterfinal at the Charles M. Murphy Athletic Center on Thursday, March 13, 2025, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. The Northview girls advanced, 55-48. (Photo by Danny Parker)
Northview took a three-point lead into the second half. And it was a near certainty that South Side would deploy a press to open the third in an effort to effort its way back into the lead.
Didn’t happen. Northview kept command.
Camryn Brown, who shot lights out in the first half, bombed in a deep 3 from the right wing that made the Lady Cougars’ lead 38-30 with 5:33 left in the third.
“That’s what we said, ‘We have to come out strong. The first four minutes (of the second half), they’re probably going to determine the outcome of the game,'” Shelley said. “We came out and executed the game plan. We did exactly what we wanted to do.”
Northview led at the end of the quarter Thursday but clung to a 42-40 advantage with eight minutes to go.
Mikinna Russell’s corner 3 for Northview moved the lead up to five in the opening seconds of the fourth.
Her baseline drive and score gave the Cougars a 51-46 advantage with 2:20 to go. Her steal at midcourt with 1:12 remaining prevented a South Side fast break and kept the ball on Northview’s end, it still leading by five.
Natavia Alber made two foul shots with 26.8 to play that iced the win.
She fined with 12 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks.
Jaidynn Askins, a Miss Basketball finalist from South Side, had 15 points and seven rebounds.
South Side had a 22-game win streak entering the state tournament and hadn’t played a close game since late December.
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NORTHVIEW LED 29-26 AT HALF
Northview withstood the early pressures and swarming South Side defense. It built a 13-7 lead late into the first quarter, the Lady Cougars actually using their defense to wreak havoc and force seven turnovers by South Side in the opening six minutes.
Northview held just a two-point lead after the first, though. South Side caught up with NVA with 5:21 left before half.
Camryn Brown buried a 3 to break the tie momentarily, but South Side answered right back with a 3 to make it a 18-18 game with 4:42 before the break.
Mikinna Russell’s 3 from the top of the key ushered the Lady Cougars back out in front, 21-18. South Side’s Amear’ra Cook made a 3 on the ensuing possession. The Lady Hawks made their first three 3s.
Camryn Brown’s high-lofted 3 from the right wing spearheaded an 8-2 run for Northview over a 2-minute, 11-second span, giving the Lady Cougars a 29-23 advantage with roughly 46 seconds left in the half.
“I was really nervous coming out. I was like, ‘I’m not going to be able to shoot,’ because we couldn’t have a shoot around. All we had is warmups. And even in warmups, at the beginning and towards the middle of warmups, I couldn’t hit a shot,” Brown said.
“We came out (to play), and it all came back. I was like, ‘OK. I’m in a game. You know how to shoot. Let it fall and trust it.'”
Northview went 4-for-8 from 3 in the first 16 minutes and made 7 of 8 foul shots.
South Side led for only 14 seconds in the half. And never led after the break.
“We thought we could possibly pressure them. Watching film, we hadn’t seen anybody really try to press them. We thought it might be able to slow them down (early), because they’re so good in transition,” Shelley said. “We put that press on them. I don’t know if they were expecting it. And then we played zone 100 percent of the game. We can probably count on our hands and toes how many possessions of zone we’ve played the entire year. So that was a good adjustment the girls made.
“But coming out strong in the first quarter, turning them over and us taking care of the ball, it was huge.’
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