1-AA Tourney: ’Betsy stumbles in ladies’ final

By Rick Sheek

ERWIN — An explosive second quarter gave Unicoi County the necessary cushion, and defending champion Elizabethton couldn’t recover.

The Lady Blue Devils rolled 50-35 to the District 1-AA girls’ basketball championship on Monday night. Unicoi led by 22 in the fourth quarter.

“I’ll give Unicoi County credit,” Elizabethton coach Mike Wilson said. “I thought they played really well. I thought it was critical that we get off to a good start, so maybe we could play a little zone and not have to chase her all over the floor, but we didn’t.

“We didn’t play well early, and we had to stick it to man because it’s hard to play zone when you’re behind.”

The Devils (24-6) play host to South Greene (15-15) in the Region 1-AA quarterfinals on Friday night. Elizabethton (20-10) is at home against Greeneville (14-17).

The Lady Cyclones were fueled by Morgan Depew’s 13-point effort. She was scoreless in the first quarter, when her team trailed by four before pulling within 11-9 heading in second period.

Reazyn DeMoss and Lauren McCurry, who hit a pair of 3-pointers, added 10 points apiece. Each of DeMoss’ buckets in the opening period gave Elizabethton its only two leads at 4-2 and 6-5.

Unicoi roared to a 28-14 halftime advantage. It was 38-22 heading in the fourth quarter.

“I give them a lot of credit,” Wilson said. “They just played well. I thought they played exceptional.”

The Devils’ largest lead was 50-28.

Unicoi’s Emily Edwards gunned in 22 points to reap tournament MVP honors. She nailed five 3-pointers and scored 18 before intermission.

The Devils were 10 of 16 at the foul line. Elizabethton was 6 of 11.

Unicoi also got nine points from Rilie King, eight from Tiffany Laughren and seven from Mikayla Bennett. Edwards and Emmie Thompson pulled down five boards each.

The Cyclones’ Caley Hodge made two steals. Savannah Madgett grabbed five rebounds.

“The first thing we’ve got to do is just put this one behind us,” Wilson said. “We’ll prepare for Greeneville on Friday, and our kids will play hard. It’s a new day tomorrow and a new game Friday.

“Kids are resilient. They’ll bounce back. We’ll get a good effort Friday. I don’t have any doubt about that.”

 

Sullivan East…………………..55

Happy Valley…………………..53

The Lady Warriors had led since the first quarter, before Suzanna Sommers converted a three-point play with 1:31 remaining to propel East ahead 52-50.

The Lady Patriots (18-14) never relinquished the lead to capture third place. They travel to Chuckey-Doak (16-14).

“At halftime we talked about how well we took care of the ball in the first half, and we had less turnovers than we normally average as a team,” Happy Valley coach Erica Beach said. “In the second half we had about double the turnovers we had in the first, and that really hurt us.”

The Warriors (11-19) visit District 2 champion Grainger (29-2).

Carrie Gouge paced Happy Valley with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Jenna Eaton scored 12, while Kenzie Blankenship and Shalee Perry hit nine apiece.

Happy Valley was up 13-11 heading in the second quarter behind four points each Chelsea Hoilman and Gouge The Warriors surged to a 10-point advantage and held a 29-22 halftime lead, thanks to six points from Gouge that period.

It was 40-34 through three quarters. With 2:40 remaining, Eaton gave the Warriors a 50-46 cushion. She scored six in the fourth.

A 3-pointer from Angel Trent cut the deficit to one. East opened up a four-point lead, before Gouge hit the game’s final points.

Trent scored all 17 of her points after the break. Sommers and Tori James added 12 points apiece for East, which was 4 of 7 at the line. Happy Valley was 8 of 10.

Blankenship, Perry, Hoilman and Eaton made two steals each. Kaitlin Hodge and Kaitlyn Kincer pulled down five boards apiece.

Sommers and Trent each hauled in seven rebounds.

“We missed some key blockouts, and they got some key put-backs that kind of got momentum going for them,” Beach said. “I hate it for these kids, because they played hard and they worked hard.”

———

All-tournament team

MVP—Emily Edwards, Unicoi Co.

Unicoi Co.—Rilie King, Emmie Thompson.

Elizabethton—Lauren McCurry, Reazyn DeMoss, Morgan Depew.

Sullivan East—Suzanna Sommers, Angel Trent.

Happy Valley—Jenna Eaton, Carrie Gouge.