3A GIRLS SEMIFINAL: Northview Academy ousts 3A defending champion Dyersburg, 52-51

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BY JESSE SMITHEY

MURFREESBORO — Camryn Brown needed an extra second to process the moment.

The final buzzer sounded in Northview’s 3A state semifinal against Dyersburg, and Brown — a senior guard — admittedly thought the game was headed to overtime, as she watched Dyersburg star Joya Crawford bury a 3 in the final seconds.

Nope.

Turns out, the two free throws Brown made with 9 seconds remaining did the trick.

Brown scored eight of her 12 after halftime, and senior guard Jordan White had 19 points, as Northview ousted two-time defending champion Dyersburg with a 52-51 win.

The win sends the Lady Cougars (33-4) to the championship game for the first time, this in their second overall appearance. Northview reached only the semifinals in 2021.

They’ll comprise an All-East Tennessee final in Saturday’s 4 p.m (Central) Class 3A Championship against Heritage (34-2). The Lady Mountaineers topped South Gibson 36-29 in the other 3A semifinal but may be without star player and MTSU signee Carsyn Swaney (ankle).

The last time two girls’ basketball teams from the 5Star Preps coverage area faced off in a state title game was 2022, when Bearden beat Farragut for a 4A crown.

“Heritage was a great team when I was in high school, and that was forever ago,” said Northview Academy coach Brooke Shelley, a guard on Sevier County’s 2002 state championship team. “They have that same tradition, which is great basketball. We say it all the time, and I believe that East Tennessee basketball is under-rated. I think that the skill, the discipline and the fundamentals of East Tennessee basketball is really, really good.

“So I’m not shocked that they’re there. And, I knew that this team had a chance to do this, to really be something special when we started.”

 

Northview led 33-30 after three quarters Friday, as Brown’s 3 at the 1:14 mark broke a 28-all tie. White’s layup with 39 seconds in the third made for the three-point advantage.

That lead swelled to as many as seven in the opening minutes of the fourth.

From there, though, Northview and Dyersburg furiously exchanged big play after big play, as if it were some final round of a boxing film.

After a Dyersburg 7-1 run, White scored on a drive to the basket.

Dyersburg’s Joya Crawford, a Cincinnati signee who scored 31, made a 3 to knot the game at 40-all.

White answered with a score of her own, another slash to the bucket.

Brown’s 3 with 3:46 remaining broke a 42-42 tie. White made two free throws with 1:29 left that gave NVA a 49-47 lead.

But perhaps White’s biggest plays were immediately following her mistakes.

She missed two free throws with 30 seconds left and the Lady Cougars clinging to a one-point lead (49-48) — but White got the offensive rebound.

Dyersburg again sent White to the line, where she made the first but missed the second. But after Dyersburg got the rebound, White forced a turnover and got the steal.

“I know I should have knocked those down,” White said. “That’s something I should be doing. I’m a senior. But I knew I have to make up for it with other stuff. I can’t hang my head.”

Brown went to the line this time after the steal, with Northview leading 50-48 and only 9 seconds to play. She easily made the first. Dyersburg called timeout after Brown’s make, trying to ice her final attempt.

Didn’t work. Brown made it for a 52-48 advantage.

Good thing she did, as Crawford made a deep 3 at the right wing that would’ve forced overtime had Brown missed one.

“I’ve had a little bit of an issue shooting free throws lately,”  Brown said. “I think it’s, like, the pressure getting to me. But, for some reason, I knew they were going in. We went into the timeout and (coach) was like, ‘Cam’s hitting this. It’s going in.’ She gave us the play for after we hit it, so I was like, ‘Well, I guess I have to make it now.

“It felt good.”

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