The Upperman Bees from Baxter picked up a thrilling 46-44 win over Oak Ridge in the first of Wednesday night’s quarterfinals.
It was a showdown of two perennial state tournament teams, and this one did not disappoint. Upperman held the upper hand until the fourth period when Oak Ridge staged a comeback and it took a missed shot near the final horn to prevent this one from going to an extra period.
Abigail Johnson pumped in 23 points to lead Upperman. Brooklyn Crouch scored 13. Jayla Cobb had eight assists.
Oak Ridge was led by Semaj Clark with 17 and Ze’Yana Stewart with nine.
Upperman outscored the Wildcats 17-8 in the second frame to go from a 16-14 deficit at the close of the opening quarter to a 31-24 halftime advantage. They extended their lead to 40-31 before Oak Ridge made their fourth quarter rally to make things extremely interesting at the end.
OAK RIDGE (44): Strickland 1-1 0-0 2, Stewart 4-8 1-2 9, Porter 2-3 0-0 4, Semaj Clark 7-14 0-0 17, Cleveland 1-2 0-0 3, Hart 1-2 1-2 3, Green 1-2 0-0 2, Johnson 2-6 0-0 4. TOTALS: 19-38 2-4 44.
UPPERMAN (46): Brooklyn Crouch 5-8 0-0 13, Hamilton 2-3 0-0 6, Conradi 0-1 0-0 0, Cobb 1-4 2-2 4, Abigail Johnson 11-13 1-2 23. TOTALS: 19-29 3-4 46.
3-Point Goals: OR—4 (Clark 3, Cleveland). UHS—5 (Crouch 3, Hamilton 2).
OAK RIDGE 16 8 7 13—44
UPPERMAN 14 17 9 6—46
