Blackman and Lebanon imposed their will on one another Saturday night for three-plus quarters, but it was the Lady Blaze who won the battle of attrition.
Blackman won its third TSSAA BlueCross Championship in program history and gave coach Jennifer Grandstaff her first gold ball as the Lady Blaze subdued Lebanon 64-56 in the Class AAA title game at MTSU s Murphy Center.
Grandstaff, who spent the bulk of her storied coaching career at Oakland, came out of retirement to take the Blackman job in the offseason.
She inherited a talented team, yet one that battled quarantines due to COVID-19 and forced the Lady Blaze to play catch-up scheduling wise prior to the district tournament.
Blackman Wins AAA State Title; 9th in 11-years for RuCo Mar 13, 2021 at 09:48 pm by WGNS
Blackman won their third Class AAA state championship since 2014 Saturday evening, defeating Lebanon 64-56:
It s the Lady Blaze third state title since 2014 and the first for veteran coach Jennifer Grandstaff. She spent many of her 30-years in coaching at Oakland but felt an itch to get back in after a year and a half retirement:
Senior Iyana Moore has 17-points in the game and was named the tournament MVP. She had to leave the game early in the fourth quarter due to an injury but came in about three-minutes later.
A strong fourth quarter by Blackman propelled them past Maryville and into the Class AAA state championship game:
Blackman had to play the last nearly five-minutes without standout Iyana Moore, who fouled out of the game and pouring in 17 points.
Coach Jennifer Grandstaff says her team showed a lot of composure:
Maryville led nearly 19-minutes of the game and got within four late in the game, but Blackman closed out the game on an 11-0 run to reach the state title game for the first time .
Weather Alert
.Flash Flood Watch In Effect 7 AM CDT Saturday to 7 PM CDT
Sunday.
.Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms are expected across
Middle Tennessee from mid morning hours on Saturday through at
least Sunday morning. This will bring an additional 1 to 3 inches
.with locally higher amounts ranging from 4 to 5 inches.of
rainfall to already saturated ground conditions. Runoff impacts
could last through afternoon hours on Sunday.
.FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM 7 AM CDT SATURDAY MORNING
UNTIL 7 PM CDT SUNDAY.
The National Weather Service in Nashville has issued a Flash Flood Watch for a portion of Middle Tennessee, including