Putting up 45 first-half points the Unaka Lady Rangers (15-4, 2-1 WVC) opened a 21 point lead and held on for a 63-45 Watauga Valley Conference win on Tuesday night at Snavely gym.

Despite foul trouble from junior post Myah Parlier which forced her to sit much of the second period, the offense was picked up by senior guard Lexi Garland’s 10 points and Sydney Markland’ s three trey’s and nine first-half points.

“We know Cloudland is a good team with good post players,” Lady Rangers head coach Kenneth Chambers said. “They are two of the better ones in the conference, but we knew it would be a battle with Myah and then Ericka in foul trouble. We made some adjustments and they did too. I give Sydney Markland a lot of credit, she is a guard that had to play post and did a good job.”

Parlier heated up in the second half, finishing with a team-high 16 points and she also had 10 rebounds while Garland finished with 12 points and Savannah Tipton had 11.

Unaka led going into the final stanza 51-37 but Jasmine Birchfield connected on a deuce which was answered by a pair of free throws from Parlier. Parlier then scored on a left-handed layup for a 55-39 Rangers lead.

After a three-ball from Kenzie Birchfield, Parlier added two more baskets as Unaka now led 59-42 with 2:21 remaining in regulation. For the Lady ‘Landers junior post Trinity Vines scored a game-high 18 points with Stacia Wilson adding seven points.

Unaka 63-45

Cloudland (45)

K. Birchfield 3, Wilson 7, J. Birchfield 6, Lunsford 4, Vines 18, Caraway 3, Fields 2, L. Birchfield 2.

Unaka (63)

Sa. Tipton 9, Garland 12, Sav. Tipton 11, Parlier 16, Potter 2, Forney 4, Markland 9.

Cloudland 10 14 13 8 – 45

Unaka 20 25 6 12 – 63

3-point goals: C 5 (Vines 3, K. Birchfield 1, Caraway 1), U 5 (Markland 3, Garland 2)