MURFREESBORO -- No. 1-ranked Riverdale took Mt. Juliet's best shot and never flinched in Wednesday's 65-54 victory over the Lady Bears in the quarterfinals of the BlueCross Basketball Championships at MTSU's Murphy Center.
 
Miss Basketball finalist Shacobia Barbee got things rolling for RHS with a pair of long range 3-pointers in the first half en route to a game-high 23 points.

"She's something," said Mt. Juliet head coach Chris Fryer, "when their big kid can step out there and stroke a couple early, it really puts a different spin on things."
 
Mt. Juliet (32-5) trailed 27-22 at intermission, but took a brief 42-41 lead on a snow bird layup by MeMe Jackson with 6:33 left in the game. Riverdale cooly responded with a 7-0 run to get things back under control. 

"I think the situations these kids have been through on a national stage, playing all over the Southeast, helped us through that moment," said Riverdale coach John Wild. "Some teams might have cracked right there, but these kids are pretty resiliant."

Fifteen turnovers against Riverdale's pressure defense offset a 30-22 rebounding edge by the Lady Bears.
 
"We hung in there, but we turned the ball over way too much," Fryer said. "Our lack of size on the outside really hurts you in a matchup like that. It's pretty tough against strong, athletic kids like Riverdale."
 
Senior Caya Williams closed out her career at Mt. Juliet with 16 points on a 6-of-12 shooting effort. Williams was a perfect 4-for-4 at the line with 10 rebounds and three assists.

Fellow post Sally McCabe chipped in with 14 points, 10 in the second half and seven boards while Jackson finished with 13 points.

Riverdale point guard Tyisha Petty had 23 points, including an 8-of-9 effort from the free throw -- all in the second half.

For the game, Mt. Juliet was 21-of-43 from the field (49%) and 11-of-12 from the line (92%). Mt. Juliet was just 1-of-5 from beyond the arc, with the only 3-pointer coming with 18 seconds left in the game by Helen Mitchner.

Riverdale wound up 22-of-46 from the field (48%) and 15-of-22 from the line (68%). The Lady Warriors knocked down six of 16 three-point attempts (37.5%).

Now 32-3 on the season, Riverdale will advance to a semifinal game friday at 1 p.m. vs. Memphis Overton.

By TOMMY BRYAN, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it