TMSAA Class A Sectional Hunter, Hampton advance in sectional
Published 12:31 am Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Hunter's Mattie Salyer takes the basketball to the rim in Saturday's game against Ottway.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Lady Tiger Hannah Yontz sends a shot toward the hoop.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Lady Bulldogs Lindsay Hardin pushes the basketball into the paint against Nolichuckey.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Hampton's Abbie Lunsford looks for an open teammate as she is picked up by a pair of Lady Blazer defenders.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Hampton's Taylor Berry launches a trey. Berry's two treys in the third period spurred the Lady Bulldogs on to the win.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Keenburg's Travis Smalls comes up with a loose ball for the Tigers.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Keenburg Tiger Skyler Holly pulls up for a shot in the Tigers game against the Knights of Gray.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Isaiah Linberg of Keenburg goes strong looking for a bucket.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Noah Gill of Keenburg takes the basketball around a Gray defender,
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
KINGSPORT – Saturday marked the opening day of the 2020 TMSAA Class A Sectional for both girls and boys at John Sevier in Kingsport.
In girls’ action, local teams Hunter and Hampton took big wins in girls’ action.
On the boys’ side, Keenburg ran into a buzz saw in the Gray Knights as the Tigers saw their season come to an end.
Lady Tigers take down Ottway 24-22
The Hunter Lady Tigers entered into Saturday’s opening day of the TMSAA Class A Girls Sectional with nothing to lose and everything to gain.
After a low-scoring first half that saw the Lady Tigers seize an 11-5 advantage, it was a fierce battle all the way to the end as both teams settled in coming out of the locker room.
When the horn sounded to end the third period the game was knotted at 19-all and the ball game belonged to the team that could execute the best.
Up to that point, Emma Taylor, Haley Taylor, and Mattie Salyer were doing their best to keep Hunter in a position to win and advance to the second round.
Emma scored six points through three quarters while Haley drained a trey and a two-pointer for five points and Salyer added four points.
In the final quarter, the same three Hunter players took it upon themselves to will their team to a win.
The Taylors – Emma and Haley finished tied with seven points apiece to lead the Lady Tigers.
Salyer, meanwhile, finished with six points in the win. Other Lady Tigers who scored included Jill Faust and Julie Tolley who both contributed with two points each.
Heidi led Ottway with eight points while Bailea scored seven points.
With the victory, Hunter advances to Tuesday’s second round against the number one seed out of Area 2 in Ridgeway.
Lady Bulldogs wake up to down Nolichuckey, 29-24
For the first 12 minutes of their game with the Nolichuckey Lady Blazers, the Lady Bulldogs of Hampton almost looked like they were sleepwalking through their contest with the Lady Blazers.
When the half came, Nolichuckey was leading 11-6.
The second half was an entirely different team as Hampton came out and finally pulled even about halfway through the third period and kept their offensive onslaught going to close out the frame with a 20-14 edge.
The turning point came as a result of four treys the Lady ‘Dogs drained in the quarter as Taylor Berry and Gracie Ballard tickle the cotton for two bombs each and Berry added a field goal for good measure.
Nolichuckey came coming at Hampton but with each run, the Lady ‘Dogs were able to answer and take the win by five points to advance to Tuesday’s second round.
Berry finished with 17 points to show the way to the win for Hampton while Ballard finished with eight points.
Macy Henry and Hannah Smith hit the scoring column with two points each to help seal the win.
Ryleigh Gregg and Ava Clark led the charge for the Lady Blazers in the loss.
Hampton takes on Boone’s Creek on Tuesday at 6:30 pm.
Boys
Gray………..57
Keenburg…..30
Keenburg came into the sectional looking to pull an upset but Gray was in no mood to take a chance as the Knights raced away from the Tigers to take a 27-point win.
Gray ran out to a 31-10 halftime lead that took the wind out of the Tigers, but the boys from Keenburg refused to quit.
The Tigers outscored Gray 19-18 in the third quarter but couldn’t string together enough run of points to make leeway into cutting into the big lead Gray built in the opening 12 minutes of play.
Isaiah Linberg and Travis Smalls poured in 10 points apiece to spearhead the Tigers offense
Devin Dugger collected six points for Keenburg.
Noah Gill, Aiden Gross, Jesse Parlier, and CJ McKinney connected on a free throw each in the season-ending loss.
Three players hit double figures for Gray.
Luke Mussard led the way with a game-high 18 points. Liam Strouth finished with 13 points while Brett Fields connected for 12 points in the win.
