State Bound: Lady Rangers head out to Mufreesboro
Published 5:06 pm Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye Members of the Lady Rangers basketball team board the bus to head for the state tournament in Murfreesboro.
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye Members of the Lady Rangers basketball team huddle up with Unaka High School Principal Betsy Oliver before heading out for the state tournament.
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye As part of Tuesday morning's sendoff, the Unaka High School band led members of the Lady Rangers basketball team on parades through all three of the high school's feeder elementary schools. The band is shown here during their visit to Unaka Elementary.
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye Lady Rangers basketball team members walk through the halls at Unaka Elementary before they left Tuesday morning headed to Murfreesboro.
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye Unaka High School hosted a special send off for the Lady Rangers. Here, some team members listen as Carter County School Board Chairman Rusty Barnett wishes the group good luck.
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye The Lady Rangers wave as the bus pulls out from Unaka High School and their journey to Murfreesboro begins.
Star Photo/Abby Morris-Frye Students at Unaka High School gathered in the parking lot to wish the Lady Rangers good luck as they head to the state tournament.
Members of the Lady Rangers basketball team got a special send-off Tuesday morning as they headed to the state tournament this week in Murfreesboro.
Members of the Unaka High School girls basketball team began Tuesday morning’s celebration by paying a visit to some younger students. The team visited all three elementary schools that serve as feeders for Unaka High School — Hunter, Keenburg, and Unaka Elementary.
At the elementary schools, the younger students lined the hallways cheering and holding signs to wish the Lady Rangers well at the state tournament. The Unaka High School band accompanied the team and played music for the parade through each of the elementary schools.
After the early morning visits to the elementary schools, the Lady Rangers returned to Unaka High School for breakfast before boarding their bus.
Carter County Board of Education Chairman Rusty Barnett and Carter County Sheriff Dexter Lunceford were both on hand for the breakfast and offered the student athletes words of encouragement.
“We are so proud of you, both on the court and off,” Barnett told the team.
Lunceford praised the team for the way they carry themselves and the example they set for others, noting how before the team ate their breakfast they bowed their heads in prayer.
When the time came to leave, the Unaka High School band played once again as the Lady Rangers boarded the bus.
Classrooms at the school emptied and the students lined the parking lot to wave and wish good luck to the team.
A police escort led the bus and accompanying caravan of vehicles from the high school through Elizabethton as they head west to Murfreesboro.
State tournament action begins Wednesday in Murfreesboro. The Lady Rangers will play their first game in the tournament on Thursday morning at 10 a.m. CST.
