The Bearden Bulldogs faced the Whitehaven Tigers in a TSSAA Class 4A 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 — All went stress-free for the Bearden girls’ basketball team in its Class 4A state quarterfinal Thursday, but the big test is coming.
Junior guard Natalya Hodge scored a game-high 19 points and senior Kendall Murphy added 17 with eight rebounds, as the Lady Bulldogs cruised past underdog Whitehaven, 59-24, at Middle Tennessee State’s Murphy Center.
Bearden (33-5) won its first state tournament game since winning it all in 2022.
Next up: Bearden will face two-time defending state champion Bradley Central (33-1) in an 8:45 p.m. Central time semifinal on Friday. Bradley Central is nationally ranked inside the Top 15 of multiple polls and hasn’t lost to an in-state opponent since Jan. 30, 2023.
Bradley Central defeated previously unbeaten Coffee County (35-1) on Thursday, 53-44.
“Bradley’s two-time defending state champion. Excellent players. Lot of college players on that roster. Coffee County’s got a lot of college players on their roster. For most of the year, we’ve been 1-2-3 in the (4A state) polls,” said Bearden coach Justin Underwood. “So, you want to play good competition. I’m proud of what we did tonight. But you’re going to play good competition to try and win a state title, and we’re excited for whoever we get to matchup against tomorrow.”
Give Bearden credit. It didn’t get caught looking ahead at high-profile opponent and took care of business against Whitehaven (19-9).
Hodge cast in a deep 3 from the right wing in the second minute of the third quarter, moving Bearden ahead 34-18 and making it even more daunting for Whitehaven to muster the energy for a rally.
She popped in a mid-range jumper 30 seconds later to double up Whitehaven’s total. Hodge added two foul shots near the midpoint mark of the third to extend the lead to 21. Bearden wound up leading 49-19 after three quarters.
“We wanted to put them away. Even though we were doing that in the first half,” Hodge said, “the second half, we knew what our goal was and to make sure they couldn’t come back or get hot.”
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BEARDEN DOMINATES EARLY
It wasn’t just the Hodge Show.
Aisha Patel scored the first five points for the Lady Bulldogs, burying a 3 on the first play of the game and then dribbling in to make a mid-range jumper on Bearden’s third possession.
“It’s always nice to see some go in early,” Patel said.
Emma Rainey hit a 3 early, too, and had eight first-half points.
Murphy scored 13 points before the break.
The Lady Bulldogs led 13-4 before Hodge’s first shot even fell through from 15 feet at the 3:19 mark of the first quarter.
Hodge’s 3-pointer with 6:14 left in the first half gave Bearden a 22-12 lead.
Then Murphy went on a personal 7-1 scoring run to bump the advantage to 29-13 with 3:10 to go before halftime.
Bearden led 31-17 after two quarters, having forced nine Whitehaven turnovers and having held Whitehaven to 6-for-20 shooting. The Lady Bulldogs also out-rebounded Whitehaven, 19-14, and scored 13 points off turnovers before half.
“We’re not just happy to be down here. It’s a big accomplishment to be down here,” Underwood said, “but we knew we wanted to stay for a bit.”
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