On Monday night the Unaka Rangers and Lady Rangers both earned hard-fought victories over region foe Hancock County. The Rangers prevailed 79-65 behind 30 points from senior Kyler Lewis who also drew a pair of technical fouls and will have to sit for two games.

“It hurts us down the road,” Rangers head coach Aaron Dugger said. “He is a big part of what we do, and he has to handle himself better. It was a good win for us, Hancock County is a good basketball team. They are a talented group and it was good to come out ahead in a nip and tuck game.”

Unaka led 21-10 after one period, but the Indians came roaring back in the second period with an 11-1 run to make it a 22-21 contest at the 6:03 mark. Devon Jarrett hit a free throw for the Rangers, but Seth Heck dropped in three deuces in the Indian run and Josh Webb had a trey and a two-pointer.

With the score standing at 25-23 in favor of Unaka, the Rangers went on a 15-4 run with Lewis collecting 11 points in the spree and Unaka led 41-27 inside of a minute left in the half. Lewis scored 17 of his game-high 30 points in the first half as the Rangers took a 41-29 lead going into the halftime break.

Devon Jarrett hit a trey at the buzzer to end the third period to give Unaka a 60-50 lead going into the final stanza. Gage Maloney had a steal and a layup for Hancock to open the period and cut the Unaka lead to 60-52.

A three-point play from Lewis saw the Rangers stretch their lead to 65-54 at the 5:19 mark of regulation and also fouled out Seth Heck with 16 points for HC. Maloney hit a three-ball at the 3:06 mark to cut the deficit to nine points at 67-58.

Austin Surgenor hit two free throws, but Lewis answered with a deuce in the paint for a 69-62 Unaka lead. Lewis soon after collected his second technical foul and fouled out at the 1:52 mark.

With 1:19 left Maloney hit a trey to make it a 73-65 contest, but Austin Beauprez hit one-of-two for a 74-65 Rangers lead.

Girls

Unaka 73, Hancock Co. 44

Offensive rebounding won the day in this contest as the Lady Rangers took down 12 offensive boards in the first half alone. Unaka (7-2 overall) opened up a 44-21 lead by halftime, forcing 12 Lady Indians turnovers and holding Hancock County to just eight second quarter points.

“We missed a lot of easy shots,” Lady Rangers head coach Kenneth Chambers said. “We did a good job on the boards, and we were trying to work on some different things. At times we had different players step up. I thought Cydney Forney stepped up and had a good game. Overall we need to do a better job defensively. We need to talk and communicate better on defense.”

Lexi Garland and Savannah Tipton each had nine first half points with Katlyn Burrow chipping in with eight. The Rangers were five-for-15 from beyond the arc in the first half with Burrow and Tipton each dropping in two.

Hancock made a run to open the third period, with an 12-3 run to cut the Rangers lead to 47-33 with 3:31 left in the period. Marlie Anderson had a trey and a two-point bucket in the run for HC.

The Rangers righted the ship before the end of the stanza and took a 57-35 lead into the final quarter. Unaka had four players score in double figures with Garland and Burrow each good for 14 points, while Cydney Forney had 11 and Savannah Tipton had 10.

For Hancock County Karlie Bowlin came off the bench and had a team-high 14 points to go with five rebounds. For the Rangers, it was their fifth straight victory.

Girls

Unaka 73-44

Hancock Co. (44)

Dykes 8, Gibson 2, Baker 8, Anderson 11, Brewer 1, Riley 2, Bowlin 12

Unaka (73)

Sa. Tipton 5, Forney 11, Sav. Tipton 10, Markland 5, Ensor 5, Garland 14, Burrow 14, E. Potter 1, T. Potter 8.

Hancock 13 8 14 8 – 44

Unaka 18 26 13 16 – 73

3-point goals : HC 2-10 (Dykes 1-3, Gibson 0-2, Baker 0-1, Anderson 1-3, Wallen 0-1). U 8-29 (Sa. Tipton 1-3, Forney 0-1, Taylor 0-1, Garland 1-3, Sav. Tipton 2-5, Markland 1-5, Ensor 1-5, Burrow 2-6).

Boys

Unaka 79-65

Hancock Co. (65)

Surgenor 8, Heck 16, Webb 9, Mullins 5, Maloney 17, Holt 10.

Unaka (79)

Lewis 30, Hill 3, Jarrett 9, Wright 12, Beauprez 19, Ramsey 6.

Hancock Co. 10 19 21 15 – 65

Unaka 21 20 19 19 – 79

3-point goals: HC 8-18 (Surgenor 1-2, Heck 2-5, Webb 1-2, Maloney 3-8, Holt 1-1). U 5-18 (Lewis 0-1, Ramsey 1-10, Wright 2-2, Hill 0-3, Jarrett 2-2)