Cloudland sweeps past Happy Valley
Published 11:10 am Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Cloudland’s Trinity Vines (32) drives baseline against Emily Lunceford (50) in the third quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Cloudland’s Trinity Vines (32) drains a trey over the Lady Warriors Bailey Ball (32) from just outside of the arc.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Lady ‘Landers’ Gracie Freeman (23) drops this three pointer from the top of the key in the third period.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Cloudland’s Trinity Vines (32) and the Lady Warriors Tiana Long(00) battle for a rebound under Happy Valleys basket midway through the third.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Lady Warriors Adrienne Henegar (23) intercepts an inbound pass intended for Cloudland’s Megan Lunsford (24) midway through the third quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Lady Warriors Olivia Absher (25) drives past Cloudland’s Stacia Wilson (11) on her way to the basket.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Lady Warriors Shalyn Whitson (52) drives right down Broadway on her way for two on a layup.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Cloudland’s Robert Leeper (22) puts back his own rebound for two in the paint over Bryce Carter (32) and Noah Stevens (14) in early first quarter action.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Cloudland’s Robert Leeper (22) soars down the lane and drops in a layup and draws the foul from the Warriors James Harmon (31) late in the first quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Happy Valley’s Bryce Carter (31) splits two Cloudland defenders to finish a Warriors fastbreak with the finger roll layup in the second quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Happy Valley’s Dakota Cochran (23) slices by Cloudland’s Elijah Blair (21) finishing a Warriors fastbreak with a runner in the second quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Cloudland’s Conner Birchfield (2) drives baseline on the Warriors Dakota Cochran (23) and delivers an outlet pass to a teammate at the top of the key.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Happy Valley’s Bryce Carter (32) intercepts a pass from the ‘Landers’ Bentley Gilbert (14) intended for Robert Leeper (22) in the post.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Warriors Timmy Mounts (22) races past Cloudland’s Hunter Shell (15) looking to pass the ball up court at the start of a Happy Valley fastbreak.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Warriors Timmy Mounts (22) initiates contact with Cloudland’s Josh Blair (55) trying to draw a foul as he drives cross court looking for a shot. No foul was called on the play.
Four technical fouls, an ejection, and a comeback that fell short were all on display at Bayless gymnasium on Monday night when Happy Valley took on Cloudland in a non-conference basketball matchup.
Warriors forward Noah Stevens was ejected in the third quarter after being called for a second technical foul. Also, after a technical foul on senior forward Dakota Cochran which fouled him out, the entire front row of the student section was told to leave the premises. HV (2-7) went on to fall to the Highlanders 65-58.
Cloudland led 28-27 at the half but opened the third period with a 7-0 run to open a 35-27 lead before senior post Bryce Carter stopped the bleeding for the Warriors with a bucket in the paint.
“I told them that the first two minutes of the third quarter was going to be very important,” Highlanders head coach Gary Harrison said. “We really focused on getting multiple stops, and our goal was to get three stops in a row to open the quarter. It turned out to be just enough. That Carter kid is tough to stop, and we are just lucky to get out of here with the win.”
HV closed to within 53-48 in the fourth period behind a pair of buckets from James Harmon and a pair of free throws from Carter, who scored a game-high 22 points. Dillon Johnson knocked down a 3-ball from the corner, and Hunter Shell dropped a dime from the top of the key for the ‘Landers sandwiched between a deuce from Harmon who scored eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter.
Cloudland (3-5) got a deuce from senior wing Robert Leeper which was answered with one from Luke Roberts as the ‘Landers clung to a 61-52 advantage with 4:31 left in regulation. Carter was two-for-four on free throws to cut the deficit to 61-54, but senior post Josh Blair’s deuce made it a 63-54 game.
Dylan Willis and Harmon hit back-to-back buckets to close to 63-56 with 1:21 remaining but a pair of free throws from Shell closed it out. Shell scored 20 for the ‘Landers with Blair adding 15 points, and Leeper had 14 points to go with 12 rebounds.
“Robert is a walking double-double,” commented Harrison. “He basically gets one every night and if he doesn’t something’s wrong. Josh started out a little bit flat, but from the time I subbed him in, he was the difference in the game.”
GIRLS
Cloudland 51, Happy Valley 29
The Lady Warriors hung in for three quarters – trailing 30-23 going into the fourth quarter – but the Lady Highlanders erupted for 21 fourth-quarter points and cruised to the win. Senior post Trinity Vines scored a game-high 22 points with guard Gracie Freeman adding 10 for Cloudland (6-4).
HV (4-5) struggled to score in this one with single-digit scoring in each quarter – a fact not lost on Lady ‘Landers head coach Mike Lunsford who said, “They scored 11 points in the second half, and I am so proud of the defensive effort of these kids. We engaged in what the game plan was just before the game and they carried it out. We gave up a few too many shots to Henegar – she hit some three’s in the second quarter – but I am so dang proud of these girls.”
Senior guard Adrienne Henegar led HV with 16 points and hit three 3-balls, but junior post Shalyn Whitson – who had to sit most of the third period with four personal fouls – was able to score just nine.
BOYS
Cloudland 65-58
Cloudland (65)
Leeper 14, Shell 20, Birchfield 2, Johnson 5, Gilbert 7, E. Blair 2, J. Blair 15
Happy Valley (58)
Willis 8, Stevens 6, Cochran 4, Carter 22, Harmon 12, Roberts 6
Cloudland 7 21 25 12 – 65
Happy Valley 16 11 15 16 – 58
3-point goals: C 5 (Shell 2, Johnson 1, Gilbert 1, J. Blair 1), HV 4 (Willis 2, Stevens 2)
GIRLS
Cloudland 51-29
Cloudland (51)
Wilson 4, Benfield 2, Freeman 10, Lunsford 7, Vines 22, J. Birchfield 6
Happy Valley (29)
Long 2, A. Henegar 16, Whitson 9, Au. Henegar 2.
Cloudland 10 11 9 21 – 51
Happy Valley 8 8 7 6 – 29
3-point goals: C 6 (Vines 2, J. Birchfield 2, Lunsford 1, Freeman 1), HV 3 (Ad. Henegar 3)
