How Abigail Netherton's last-second shot made TSSAA girls basketball history for Van Buren

MURFREESBORO — Abigail Netherton felt like she was running at 100 miles per hour.

Looking back, Netherton knows she wasn't going that fast. But it's hard to fault her misconception in the moment. In the final seconds of in a tied TSSAA girls basketball state tournament semifinal against Coalfield, the Van Buren sophomore's only thought was to get open.

When Netherton did exactly that, forward Cara Mills tossed her the ball. She took two dribbles from outside the 3-point line, rose up and floated in a one-handed push shot with two ticks remaining.

Netherton's shot will live forever in Tennessee's second-smallest county by population, as it gave Van Buren (27-6) a 54-52 win over Coalfield in Friday's Class 1A semifinal at Middle Tennessee State's Murphy Center. The Eagles will face Greenfield (29-6) in the championship game at 11 a.m. Saturday. It will be the first time any team in school history has played for a state championship.

"We've known about Gail for a long time," said Van Buren coach Tyler Sapp. "I'm happy that everybody else is gonna get to know who she is."

Van Buren coach Tyler Sapp's journey to TSSAA championship game after being fired, then reinstated, in 2021

Van Buren's rise to the biggest stage hasn't come without twists. After winning district coach of the year honors the year prior, Sapp was fired just days before the start of the 2021-22 season. At the time, he told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he was informed the girls basketball program needed a woman as head coach.

Amid headlines, the Van Buren County school board reinstated Sapp three days later. That season, Sapp coached the Eagles to the state tournament, the first of three appearances in the last four years.

Van Buren advances to first TSSAA girls basketball state championship game

Those first two appearances ended in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. On paper, this season's team might not have seemed to be the likeliest candidate to break through farther. Van Buren reached Murfreesboro with no seniors on its roster and was drawn into a bracket half with 30-win Coalfield and Moore County, led by Miss Basketball finalist Ellie Graham.

"Just go out there and leave everything we got on the floor, that was the message today," Sapp said. "The message was, let's go get some hardware. We have no state hardware in Van Buren County. After tomorrow, gold or silver, we'll have something."

The Yellow Jackets (31-6) led by nine points with six minutes remaining before Netherton, who finished with 30 points, began to get going. She scored the Eagles' next nine points, getting them within 49-45, before Mills hit a pair of free throws and a layup to tie the game with 1:23 to go.

MORE: TSSAA girls basketball state tournament brackets, schedule, scores for 2025 championships

Van Buren's comeback seemed borne out of the fact that it had nothing to lose. Netherton gave the Eagles the lead on a pair of free throws before Coalfield tied it once more, as Alexis Hammock hit a trio of free throws with 13 seconds left. Sapp called Van Buren's final play a "natural phenomenon" — there was no set play, just a general idea to get the ball upcourt quickly and hit the trailer. In this case, that was Netherton.

"I just rose up and shot it, and then I was just like, 'Oh, that's in,' " Netherton said. "Seeing it swish was amazing."

And it enabled the Eagles to fly for one more day.

"People are going to remember us forever," Mills said. "Just knowing that is amazing. It's the best feeling ever."

Added Netherton: "Now it's time to go win the real thing."

Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Van Buren reaches first TSSAA girls basketball state championship game

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