MURFREESBORO -- McMinn Central eliminated Greeneville High from the TSSAA State Basketball Tournament here Thursday afternoon, beating the Lady Devils 65-53 at Murphy Center.

The Chargers got a 30-point effort from Madison Lee and 14 from Jenna Adams in bringing an end to Greeneville's basketball season in the state quarterfinals.

Ranked No. 1 in Class AA by the Associated Press for much of the season, McMinn Central used a second quarter spurt to move ahead of the Devils by 10 points and Greeneville was forced to play catch-up the rest of the way.

The loss overshadowed a big-time effort from junior post Rainey Story, who scored 27 points in the loss, and junior point guard Chandler Christopher, who scored 16 points and had seven assists despite playing with a bulky cast guarding her damaged left hand, which was hurt in the regional tournament.

Greeneville's strength is its post game, and both Story and Samantha Fender collected three fouls early in the second quarter, forcing them to the bench.

"We have to have those two in the game to have a chance to win, and that didn't happen today," said Coach Stacia Crumbley, who has made a habit out of taking Greeneville to the state tournament since her arrival. "Both Sam and Rainey were sitting on the bench the second quarter. We were still in it and thought we would be a little more poised in the third quarter. But we could never get over that 10-point hump."

The Devils sent McMinn Central to the foul line 30 times in the game and they hit a red-hot 26 of them. Lee was 15-of-16.

"We knew they were going to make their free throws," Crumbley said. "We made some silly fouls, We missed some box-outs that were huge. In the end it was just too much for us to overcome."

The two teams played nip-and-tuck through the opening quarter, but GHS was having trouble keeping Lee away from the basket as she constantly dribbled to the lane for shots. She scored 13 of McMinn's 17 first quarter points, and the Chargers led 17-10 at the horn.

"Madison hadn't driven the ball to the hole like that this year," Coach Johnny Morgan of McMinn Central said. "We felt like if we could push it up the floor, their transition defense couldn't contain her. She did a good job."

With both Fender and Story getting into second quarter foul trouble, the Chargers went on an 8-2 run in the second frame that stretched a 19-15 lead to 27-17. A Chandler layup late in the half kept the Devils close at 29-22 at the horn.

But McMinn Central started the second half with a 10-2 run, opening a 39-24 lead, and that proved to be too much of a hole for the Devils to climb out of.

"Nobody gave us a shot of getting down here this year when the season started," Crumbley said. "I've seen them grow from the start of the season. This wasn't a good game for us. Part of that was McMinn Central's pressure, and some of it was our own fault."

After getting behind by 15 points, the Devils refused to fold and several times got the deficit down to eight points, but they could creep no closer. They kept pounding the ball inside to Story in the second half, and she responded with points.

"What we had heard about Greeneville was their solid post game, and they were big and would pound it, pound it and pound it inside," Morgan said. "We worked on not letting them get that high-low pass. They scored in the post, but most of the shots were contested. We did a pretty good job."

Despite outrebounding the Chargers 32-22, the Devils made 21 turnovers which were costly.

"They're a lot like South Greene with their pressure," Crumbley said. "But we knew coming in this week that we were going to get pressure regardless of who we played because everybody knew about Chandler's wrist. I thought if we could handle their pressure and keep our posts out of foul trouble, we would have a chance. We did just the opposite."

Christopher played with the bulky cast but didn't seem to let it bother her.

"It's not the way I want to play, obviously," Christopher said about the cast. "But it lets me play. There's some pain in there off the court, but the adrenaline kept it from hurting while the game was going on."

Christopher said that as of now it doesn't appear surgery will be needed, but she has to go back to the doctor next week for further examination.

"I think 6-8 weeks in the cast and I'll be OK," she said.

When the Devils were able to get the ball in the paint on offense, Story usually answered with points.

"Rainey put some points up for us in the second half, but we couldn't get any stops on the defensive end," Crumbley said. "We got ourselves backed into a corner and couldn't find a way out tonight."

Story was disappointed the season is over.

"It feels good to have played down here in state, but we were wanting more," Story said.

In addition to her 30 points, Lee had six steals for McMinn Central.

Story and Christopher accounted for 43 of Greeneville's total of 53 points. Brianna Kelley had nine rebounds. Morgan Shipley had three steals and four boards.

Greeneville closes out the season with a record of 25-9. McMinn Central is 31-2.