Lady Patriots squash T.A. Dugger in battle of the unbeaten, 51-22
Published 11:16 pm Monday, November 23, 2015
JOHNSON CITY— In a much anticipated battle of two top middle school girls’ teams in the area, the Liberty Bell Lady Patriots came out firing with both barrels to take an easier-than-expected 51-22 win over the T.A. Dugger Jr. Lady Cyclones at Freedom Hall Monday evening.
“We came out flat,” said Jr. Lady Cyclone coach Matt Fox. “We didn’t play our game as well and Liberty Bell came out and played theirs.
“They are tall, fast and athletic,” he added. “We are a lot better team than what we played tonight.”
Liberty Bell blasted out of the gates and ran off 14 points before the Jr. Lady Cyclones could even register a basket behind the solid play of Alasia Smith who totaled eight points in the opening quarter.
Kaitlyn Light found the first bucket for T.A. Dugger to stop the bleeding and the Jr. Lady Cyclones actually settled down to trail only 16-8 at the end of the first six minutes of play.
The Jr. Lady Cyclones (6-1) were helped by a Kelsie Winters trey as the horn sounded to end the period. Light totaled five in the period.
Behind six points from Smith, the Lady Patriots (7-0) picked right up from where they left off in the first period outscoring the Jr. Lady Cyclones 14-1 in the second period to build a commanding 30-9 halftime advantage.
Hannah Boster hit 1-of-2 free throws for the only points in the second quarter.
The Jr. Lady Cyclones just couldn’t get the offensive juices flowing in the second half as the Lady Patriots continued to put the ball in the hoop to win the second half 21-13 to take the win.
Smith finished as game-high scorer with 20 points doing most of the damage from pin-point range. Alryanna Hill chipped in with 11 and Erin Egerbrecht totaled eight points.
Light finished with 12 points for the Jr. Lady Cyclones with Winters and Boster registering three points each. Macey Burleson and Aundria Bunter contributed with two points apiece.
Fox said most of the damage that was done by Liberty Bell came as a result of uncharacteristic play by his squad.
“We didn’t protect the ball and didn’t box out very well,” added Fox. “We didn’t make good passes either. We are going to have to get back to playing Cyclone basketball.”
The Jr. Lady Cyclones will take the court today with a home game against Ross Robinson from Kingsport.
