BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN

CORRESPONDENT

Unicoi County stayed with Elizabethton for exactly one quarter on Tuesday evening at Treadway gym before the Lady Cyclones defensive pressure forced 10 turnovers and senior post Megan Pietrowski had a big night under the basket.

Pietrowski scored 14 first half points on her way to a game high 16 points as EHS pulled away from the Lady Blue Devils for a 67-42 Three Rivers Conference victory.

“It’s really good playing against a player like Destinie,” Pietrowski said of Devils post Destinie Hayes. “She is such a competitor and that makes me play harder. We focus so much on defense in practice that it always shows in games. We made some big stops in the second quarter.”

In a first quarter that saw Unicoi County (12-11, 6-4 TRC) connect on both shots from beyond the arc, but the tables turned in the second period as the Devils went cold. UC hit just two-for-eight as the Cyclones hit eight-for-12 from the floor and scored 23 second quarter points for a 37-23 halftime advantage.

EHS (22-0, 10-0 TRC) saw its lead balloon to 49-31 at the end of the third period as both teams shooting cooled considerably.

Kelci Marosites had 15 points and seven boards while both Sarah Robinson and Kayla Marsoites finished with nine points and as many rebounds.

“Megan had another good game tonight,” commented Lady Cyclones head coach Len Dugger. “She missed a few bunny shots in the second half, but overall she made some tough ones as well. Obviously our goal is to win the conference and get to the regional and the girls got it done. They work very hard every night to get better.”

For UC, Hannah Rice and Haley Webb each scored nine.

BOYS

Elizabethton         58

Unicoi County     46

The Cyclones continued their hot play with a strong first period to take a 20-11 early lead. EHS went into the break holding a 27-20 advantage but Unicoi County got strong play from Merrick Nicksic who had six points in the half.

Cyclones (16-8, 9-1) junior post Bo Pless had eight points and five rebounds by halftime and Tyler Nichols completed a four point play and had seven in the half.

The Blue Devils (12-13, 6-4) pulled to within two at 34-32 with 3:17 remaining in the third period on a trey from Dylan Putman which followed a deuce by Austin Hendrickson. Michael Robinson answered with a triple from in front of the student section and Conley Bowers followed a miss by Nichols with a put back shot to give EHS a 39-32 lead.

Nichols opened the fourth quarter with a three point play followed by a trey from Robinson as EHS took a 45-35 lead early in the period. EHS made it a 15 point lead on another trey from Robinson and a two point bucket from Pless.

“We have been trying to find ways to get Michael into the games,” said EHS head coach Lucas Honeycutt. “He shoots the ball so well and we have been working with him to where he can guard someone on defense. He has responded to that and worked hard at it.

“I think they know that last year, we had a good game against them, then we went over there and they beat us, so they knew that there was that possibility of getting beat if we don’t come out hard.”

Robinson finished with nine points while Nichols led all scorers with 17. Nicksic and Hensley led UC with 10 point each.

In all EHS had a 13-0 point run and a 52-35 lead before UC got a deuce from Jacob Smith and put an end to any suspense in this contest.

 

GIRLS

Elizabethton 67-42

Unicoi Co. (42)

Griffith 2, Webb 9, Rice 9, H.Padgett 6, Lynch 7, Hayes 8.

Elizabethton (67)

Ka.Marosites 9, Ke.Marosites 15, Perry 6, Kiser 6, Robinson 9, Burleson 4, Schubert 2, Pietrowski 16.

Unicoi Co.           13 10   7 11 – 42

Elizabethton         14 23 12 16 – 67

3-point goals: UC 4 (Webb 3, Lynch 1), EHS 3 (Ke.Marosites 2, Kiser 1).

 

BOYS

Elizabethton 58-46

Unicoi County (46)

Hendrickson 4, Nicksic 10, Hensley 10, Putman 5, Smith 9, Spears 3, Webb 5.

Elizabethton (58)

Jones 3, Robinson 9, Nichols 17, A.Cornett 5, Pless 14, Bowers 10.

Unicoi Co.           11  9 15 11 – 46

Elizabethton         20  7 12 19 – 58

3-point goals: UC 4 (Hensley 2, Spears 1, Putman 1), EHS 5 (Robinson 3, Jones 1, A.Cornett 1). Fouled out: UC (Thelan 5:37)