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KNOXVILLE—For the second straight season, Morristown East’s girls saw their season come to an end just one game shy of the state tournament after a 56-43 setback at the hands of Knox Bearden in Saturday’s sectional matchup at Bearden.

The Lady Hurricanes closed another highly successful season with a 25-8 record and saw the playing careers of five seniors come to an end.

M. C. LeMarbre tossed in 17 points and Natalya Hodge, a Missouri signee, chipped in 13 as the Lady Bulldogs racked up their 32nd win against three losses and are headed for the state tournament for the state for the fifth time in six seasons.

Hannah Hall was the only East player in double figures with 19 while Molli Stuffle scored eight and Riley Forester and Kennady Phillips seven each.

The Lady Bulldogs trailed by 13-12 after Hall’s basket with 2:03 left in the first period. LeMarbre knocked down a three-pointer to put the home team in front for good and then hit a fast break layup seconds later and the Lady Hurricanes never caught up again.

Bearden led 21-15 at the end of the quarter and 35-21 at intermission after East couldn’t find the basket in the second frame.

The lead ballooned to 17 in the third frame before the Lady ‘Canes battled back. It was 49-35 at the final break and East got it down to 10 points at 53-43 and had the ball but could get no closer.

It was a tough loss and another disappointment for seniors Hall, Forester, Jaelyn Valentine, Tori Johnson and Kimberly Jimenez. But the truth of the matter is this loss was a direct result of losing the region finals to Sevier County simply because not many teams go to Bearden and win.

In the career of this group, they racked up an 88-43 record. They won two district tournaments, one regional and had back-to-back sectional appearances. They also had an 8-3 record against Morristown West, which is what a lot of local fans base success on.

Coach Justin Combs, who has turned the Lady Hurricanes into a winning program in his four seasons, said, “We’re disappointed that we couldn’t get past this one and to the state at Murfreesboro. Obviously, that’s always the goal and I have no doubt that’s coming for this program sooner rather than later.

“We’ve been right there with a chance the last two seasons and we just have to keep knocking on that door and it will open.”

The coach talked about his seniors. “I can’t say enough about my five seniors and what they’ve accomplished as individuals and collectively as a group. This is the first group I’ve coached all four of their years at East and they’ve been a special bunch.

“They’ll always be remembered for what they accomplished and they’ve done a fantastic job of showing our underclassmen what the standard of leadership needs to look like going forward. It’s hard for me to talk about them without getting emotional because they’re a special bunch for sure who will be greatly missed.”

In true coaching fashion, he closed, “We’ll take a few weeks off to recharge and then get back to work scheduling, planning and working to get better for next season.”

Combs said about the game, “I was really proud of the effort we gave, especially in the second half. We let the game get away from us a little in the second quarter and dug a hole that was too big to get out of. We battled hard and ultimately outscored them over the last two quarter but it wasn’t enough.

“We got good clean looks in the first half but just didn’t knock down enough of them. We did a good job with our game plan in holding Hodge and Rainey in check but their other kids really stepped up for them.”

For the game, East made 16 of 52 shots for 30.8 percent and was 5 of 19 on three-point tries. The Lady Dawgs hit 25 of 57 for 43.9 and 3 of 12 behind the arc.

East had a 37-29 rebounding edge as Hall added to her career school record with nine. Phillips had eight while Forester and Stuffle got five each. Hall went over the 1,000 career rebound mark last week.