Maryville faced Page in a TSSAA Class AAA state quarterfinal at Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, on Thursday, March 11, 2021. The Lady Rebels won 57-39. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — You’d have thought there’d have been confetti falling from the rafters or at least a Gatorade shower for a coach or two.
But when the final seconds slid off the clock of the Maryville girls’ basketball program’s first state tournament win since 1923, the Lady Rebels on the floor just casually strode over to their bench to high-five some teammates.
Bigger goals were still on their minds. Not winless droughts.
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Maryville bounced rookie Page from the Class AAA state tournament with a 57-39 win Thursday night at Middle Tennessee State’s Murphy Center.
The Rebels shot 48.8 percent from the floor, made seven of 15 3-pointers and again showcased a core senior trio of future college basketball players.
Iowa State signee and two-time Miss Basketball finalist Denae Fritz finished with a double-double (20 points, 10 rebounds), ETSU signee Aaliyah Vananda had 17 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five steals. And guard Gracie Midkiff had 13 points, five assists and four rebounds. She’s headed to Carson-Newman after high school.
Fritz set the tone, popping in a 3-pointer just 14 seconds into the game and then making a layup for a 5-0 lead at the 7-minute, 7-second mark of the first.
“If you got a Ferrari, you better have an engine in it. And she’s our engine,” said Maryville coach Scott West. “She makes us go. Everybody knows that. That’s what’s great about our team. They understand that.
“Sometimes they may get a little upset with me when I say the ball needs to go to 23, but they understand that. When you have a player of her caliber, she makes everyone else around her better.”
Vananda had 11 of her 17 points with 5:19 left in the first half. She went 3-for-3 on 3-pointers up until that mark, and her third trey made Maryville’s lead 21-15.
“Weirdly, I was extremely comfortable this year,” said Vananda. “It’s our second year back (in a row), so I wasn’t too nervous.”
Midkiff popped in a 3 for a 34-25 lead with 5:50 left in the third. She buried another to bump the advantage to 15 points just before the end of the third quarter.
Page’s offense is predicated upon 3-point shooting, and it shot 24 times from the perimeter Thursday. The Lady Patriots made just six and could never mount a serious run to rattle Maryville.
The Lady Rebels forced 15 turnovers, got 11 steals and made sure it didn’t fall victim to a first-round upset like Bearden and Bradley Central did on Thursday.
“We were watching those games. We were talking about them,” said West. “We said, ‘We can’t let that happen to us.’ We responded really well in the first four minutes of the game. We made a statement that we were going to play. We knew Page had some really good players.
“We knew they would make a run. But we never really gave them a run. They’d get (the lead) to six or seven, but we always seemed to have an answer to get it back to eight, nine or 10.”
WHAT’S NEXT
Maryville (27-6) advances to take on Murfreesboro Blackman (22-3) in the state semifinals at 8:30 p.m. Central on Friday. The Lady Blaze have won 18 in a row and will likely have a massive crowd size advantage.
“They’re good. We played them two years ago in a Christmas tournament. We beat them at our Christmas tournament. This is not the same Blackman team,” said West. “They got some new kids who can really play. They’re long. They can shoot it. But playing good teams is not strange to us. We played 14 teams on our schedule (this year) that were in the substate or state tournament.
“When you play that type of schedule, we’re not going to be intimidated. We’re going to come out and play. But we know we have to play well. … I know it’s cliche, but the team with the fewest turnovers tomorrow is going to win the game. I think I like our chances, but I know (Blackman’s coach) does, too. If you’re in the state’s final four, you’d better be pretty good. And I think both of us are. We’re ready to go.”
5STAR PHOTOS by FCA: Maryville Lady Rebels vs. Page Patriots (2021 Class AAA state quarters)