The past three basketball seasons have been fruitful for the Huntingdon Middle School Fillies basketball team as they have made three straight trips to the James C. Haile state tournament in Murfreesboro. The first trip for the Fillies ended in a loss in their second game but 2025 they broke the door in and won their first ever state championship.
It took five days longer than planned but the Fillies earned back-to-back titles Thursday on the campus of Middle Tennessee Christian School with a 36-31 overtime victory over Columbia Academy. The Fillies had earned a bye to start the tournament and then defeated Carroll-Oakland to advance to the championship game that was scheduled for January 31, but snow and ice pushed the championship game to Thursday February 5.
Game Overview
They started slow in the game against Columbia Academy as the Lady Bulldogs took a 7-0 lead, but the Fillies battled back to cut the lead to 9-7 at the end of the first quarter. The Fillies stayed even in the second quarter despite shooting poorly from the field and had several turnovers and trailed at the end of two quarters 18-15.
The Fillies turned up their defense in the third quarter and held the Lady Bulldogs scoreless unless the last couple of minutes before the end of the quarter and held a 10-4 margin at the end of three quarters to lead 25-22 with six minutes to go in the game.
Huntingdon started the final quarter strong and scored the first two points of the quarter to lead 29-22 but watched the Lady Bulldogs bounce back and cut the lead to 30-27 with 4.2 seconds left in the game. After a timeout the Lady Bulldogs inbounded the ball to Cameron Church who dribbled to the three-point line and knocked down a three-pointer as the final buzzer sounded to send the game into overtime at 30-30.
The Fillies seemed unfazed and took control in the overtime frame and outscored the Lady Bulldogs 6-1 in the three minutes of overtime. Columbia Academy had taken the lead at 31-30 on a foul shot by Evelyn Johnson and the Fillies took the lead back on two foul shots by Lakeitha Cason and sealed the win with four straight foul shot from June Dillahunty.
Leading the way for the Fillies in the scorebook was Anderson Pearson with 10, Dillahunty 9, Cason 7, Ella Atkins 6, Emma Smith 2, and Kaylee Eatman 2. Columbia Academy was led by Church with 13, Ellyssa Frey 8, Chloe Love 4, Trulie George 3, Ali Towsend 2, and Johnson with 1.
Finishing last season at 24-1 turned in another strong record as the Fillies finished 2026 with a 19-1 record, a state championship, a conference tournament and regular season title in a different conference than last season. The Fillies’ only loss came to South Gibson on November 3 but defeated the Lady Hornets twice after that with the final win coming in the conference title game.
