Lady Huskies, ‘Landers prove too much for opponents

Published 12:05 am Tuesday, February 25, 2020

By Allen LaMountain

BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
GRAY – On Saturday afternoon the North Greene Lady Huskies and the Cloudland Lady Highlanders proved that they belong at the top of the District 1A tournament with convincing wins over Hampton and Unaka respectively.
“Great effort tonight out of the kids,” stated Lady Highlanders head coach Matt Birchfield. “It’s what we wanted all season to get home games in the playoffs and we got strong offensive and defensive performances out of all these kids.
“Scoring wise, rebound wise when you do those things it increases your chances. We don’t overlook any opponent and try to give our best effort every time out.”
North Greene opened the days slate of games with a 61-41 win over Hampton while Cloudland breezed past the Lady Rangers 58-25 in the girl’s nightcap.
Junior guard Heaven Caraway had another strong offensive performance with 14 points to lead all scorers for the ‘Landers while Jasmine Birchfield added nine.
It was the strong zone pressing defensive effort of the ‘Landers that befuddled Unaka (11-20) all night with the Rangers unable to break into the scoreboard for the entire first period as Cloudland led 12-0.
It became 17-0 in the second period before freshman Mackenzie Depew got the Rangers first points on a two-point bucket. It was 29-5 at the half and Cloudland blew the game wide open in the third quarter to take a 50-18 lead into the final stanza.
Sophomore post player Macy Ensor had a team-high 12 points for Unaka.
–—
GIRLS
District 1A semifinal
Cloudland 58-25
Unaka (25)
Ramsey 4, J. Whitehead 5, Ensor 12, Depew 4.
Cloudland (58)
Caraway 14, K. Birchfield 8, Benfield 6, J. Birchfield 9, Freeman 6, Blair 3, L. Birchfield 8, Ka. Fields 1, Kar. Fields 3.
Unaka         0   5 13 7 – 25
Cloudland 12 17 21 8 – 58
3-point goals: U 2 (Ensor 2). C 5 (Caraway 3, K. Birchfield 2).
GIRLS
North Greene…61
Hampton………41
The Lady Bulldogs had no answer for North Greene post player Brooklyn Anderson who scored 21 points and pulled down a dozen rebounds as the Lady Huskies rolled to the victory.
Anderson dominated the first half with 15 points as North Greene (23-8) took a 34-18 halftime lead.
Hampton (9-22) showed no sign of quit as Hazen Brumitt had a pair of third-quarter buckets and freshman Madison McClain scored a team-high 13 points.
Junior post player Nicole Guy scored seven points and Linsey Jenkins added six.
The second half was more competitive with North Greene outscoring Hampton by just three points but the damage done in the first half was too much for the Lady ‘Dogs to overcome.
Hayleigh Bernard scored 13 for North Greene followed by nine from Shelby Davenport.
—
GIRLS
District 1A semifinal
North Greene 61-41
Hampton (41)
McClain 13, Heaton 2, Brumitt 6, Collins 4, Jenkins 6, Orr 3, Guy 7.
North Greene (61)
Britton 3, Savage 8, Bernard 13, Anderson 21, Davenport 9, Gaby 1, Wagner 4, Harkelrod 2.
Hampton          8 10 14  9 – 41
North Greene 18 16 15 11 – 61
3-point goals: H 3 (McClain 3). NG 3 (Britton, Savage, Bernard).

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