In this photo from last year, Oak Ridge’s Desiree Bates (20), who is now a senior, plays defense against Daniel Boone’s Macie Culbertson (4), who is also now a senior, during a 61-44 win for the Lady Wildcats in a Class AAA sectional at Wildcat Arena on Saturday, March 4, 2017. In this year’s sectional, Culbertson led the Lady Trailblazers with a game-high 25 points during a 62-51 win over the Lady Wildcats at Daniel Boone on Saturday, March 8, 2018. (File photo by Luther Simmons)

The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats’ basketball season ended Saturday with a 62-51 loss at Daniel Boone High School in a Class AAA sectional game. The eight sectional games across Tennessee determine which eight teams go to the state tournament in Murfreesboro this week.

It was the last high school game for five talented, experienced Oak Ridge seniors: Desiree Bates, Destiny Kassner, Jaymi Golden, Mykia Dowdell, and Terrika Dean. They are part of a team that finished as Class AAA state runner-up in 2016 and made it to a state quarterfinal last year.

“This will be the biggest hit that we’ve taken,” Paige Redman, who has coached the Oak Ridge girls for three seasons, told broadcaster David Clary at Prepradio.com. “This was the group that we started with.”

Oak Ridge (25-7) advanced to the 2017 state tournament last year by beating Daniel Boone 61-44 in a sectional game at Wildcat Arena—after trailing early and being tied 20-20 at halftime.

In this year’s rematch in Gray, which is in upper East Tennessee, the two teams traded leads six times, and they were tied three times.

The Lady Trailblazers took the lead for good, 51-49, on a three-point shot late in the fourth quarter. [Read more…]