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SEVIERVILLE — If Morristown East’s girls are going to the state tournament, they will have to do it the hard way… with a road win at powerful Knox Bearden in Saturday’s sectional round after the Lady Hurricanes fell to Sevier County, 46-40 in the Region 1-4A championship game on Wednesday.

The usually potent East offensive attack was nowhere to be found in the second half on Wednesday as the Bearettes won their fifth region title in six years and will now host Farragut in the sectional. Saturday’s games begin at 7 p.m.

East played pretty well in the first half, but was put in the situation of the Bearettes, now 24-5 for the season, having the ball and the lead by a violation that probably hadn’t been whistled in the entire tournament, was called late in the game.

Hannah Madison scored an inside basket to put Sevier ahead 37-35 with 2:00 minutes left. Kaliyah Burden added a free throw with 1:05 on the clock, but East had the ball with a chance to tie with less than a minute left when the referee called a carry violation.

That put the Bearettes in complete control as East was forced to foul and a parade of free throws deprived the Lady ‘Canes of a second straight region crown.

But the Lady ‘Canes, now 25-7, should never have been in that situation in the first place. Too many throwaways, turnovers and poor offensive decisions are the things that cost them the game, although that whistle ended their chances.

East coach Justin Combs was perplexed by the offensive inefficiency after halftime. “Offensively, we were good in the first half. We executed at a high level with good spacing. I’m not sure what happened after that. I’d have to watch the film to be sure, but I don’t think Sevier County made any major adjustments. They continued to play zone with some man mixed in.

“They were very physical in the first half and continued to be in the second. I thought we handled that well in the first half but let it get to us in the second.”

Combs continued, “Maybe it was the moment or the atmosphere or the pressure of the situation but I felt we quit running our offense and got out of the spacing that had worked so well for us earlier.

“I really can’t answer why but it just looked at times like no one wanted the ball or to be the one that took the shot. We stopped using the high post and I didn’t think we screened well or executed any of our quick hitters which had been so good for us all year.”

Combs also said, “Defensively, we executed pretty well and until we had to start fouling had given ourselves a chance to win on defense but taken ourselves out of it by being timid or afraid to fail at times offensively.

“We had the ball with a chance to tie late in the game and I thought we got a questionable call on a carry at that moment in the game. But we should never have been in that situation so we have no one to blame but ourselves. I’ve got to do a better job of calming them down and getting them to execute, so in the end it’s on me to do a better job for the girls.”

It was close most of the way as East led 12-9 at the first stop and 26-24 at halftime. Madison, who led the Bearettes with 17 points and should have been the most valuable player in the tournament, would get in the lane and wait for the ball to come in to her and then put it in the basket moving people out of the way if she had to.

She scored eight in the third quarter as the home team came back to lead 34-28 before Kennady Phillips hit two free throws for East to get the Lady Canes within 34-30 at the last rest stop. East took only three shots in the third quarter as they turned it over several times. Phillips had four free throws for the only points.

It was more of the same in the fourth frame. Molli Stuffle hit a three and Hannah Hall tied the game at 35 with a short jumper. But Madison camped out and scored again before Burden, who was named MVP, hit a free throw for the three-point lead.

That’s when the carry call pretty much ended it for East.

Burden added 13 points and Aubree Thompson 11 for the Bearettes. Hall scored 14 for East and was the only player with more than seven.

The winners hit 14 of 35 from the floor and were 1 of 6 on three-point tries. East only took 32 shots and made 13 for 40.1 percent. The Lady ‘Canes were 6 of 11 behind the arc.

Burden grabbed eight rebounds and Madison seven as the home team had a 25-23 rebounding edge. Phillips had nine for East.

East’s Hall, Phillips and Stuffle were all named all-tournament along with Madison, Brylee Valentine and Thompson of Sevier; Carter Jones of West Ridge and Amiyah Lewis of Science Hill.