Cougar killers… Lady Cyclones shoot down Central in District 1-AA final, 59-47

Published 12:13 am Wednesday, February 26, 2020

By Ivan Sanders

BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
BLUFF CITY – Like hunting on a safari, the Lady Cyclones of Elizabethton were like a focused hunter ignoring all the roaring going on from the wild fans in the stands to track down their prey and with the perfect game plan put the Central Lady Cougars down for the Lady Cyclones second consecutive Girls District 1-AA Tournament championship with a 59-47 win.
The victory snapped the #6 ranked Lady Cougars (27-3) streak of playing undefeated to Tennessee teams in the 2019-2020 season and only the third loss total.
Elizabethton (20-10), meanwhile, showed they are starting to peak at the right time as tournament play is where the season truly is all about.
And while the Lady Cyclones have a pair of twin towers in Morgan Headrick and Kaitlin Bailey, it was the play of their two smaller guards in Lina Lyon and Torrie Roberts that helped to secure the second straight win over a higher seed in the tournament to earn the second straight title for Coach Lucas Andrews ball club.
Lyon made a pair of key free throws and Roberts had a huge steal and layup at the other end to push the Lady Cyclones out front to stay down the stretch to help secure the win.
Tournament MVP Bailey led the way in the scoring column for Elizabethton hitting for 18 points in her final district tournament appearance.
Her counterpart, Headrick, also had a big night in the scoring column collecting 13. Kaylen Shell, who hasn’t put up big numbers as in the past came through with a couple of clutch three-pointers on her way to 12 points in the see-saw battle between the two teams.
Roberts had seven points, all in the final 16 minutes of play, but none more important than stepping in front of a pass intended for Central post player Abby Crawford late in the game and racing to the other end for the score.
Lyon added six points including the two big free throws late in the game that gave the Lady Cyclones a little more cushion.
Renna Lane added three points coming from a three-ball as time expired at the intermission to give Elizabethton a little more momentum.
Crawford led Central with 16 points while being continually frustrated by the double teams that forced many errant shots from Crawford. Peyton Sams had 11 but also was hampered by having to shoot over the top of Bailey whose size poised problems for Sams.
“We all played together all super well tonight,” said Bailey with a wide grin. “We double-downed a lot on her (Crawford) tonight and I think that helped. She got a few shots off but I think that we contained her better than we did the past couple of games.
“I had a smaller girl on me tonight so I posted up and took advantage of that.”
Andrews said that one thing that he likes about his team is their willingness to mix it up and not be intimidated.
“This team is gritty and they are going to stick their heads in there with anybody,” said Andrews about the effort from his team. “This whole team is gritty and I love this team to death.”
The Lady Cyclones will play host to the four-seed out of District 2 on Friday night. Game time has yet to be set for the contest as the coaches will meet on Wednesday.
Elizabethton had Headrick, Lyon, and Shell named to the All-Tournament team with Bailey garnering the MVP award.

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