Lady ‘Landers dominate Hancock
Published 7:57 am Monday, February 25, 2019
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Lady ‘Landers Trinity Vines (32) gets Cloudland on the board first and they never looked back.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Though their season is over the Highlanders came out in full force to cheer on the Lady ‘Landers in Region 1A tournament action Friday night, sporting some very interesting retro 60-70's style uniforms.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Cloudland’s Gracie Freeman (23) drops in another three ball in the second quarter. The Lady ‘Landers were on fire from three point range all night long against Hancock County.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Cloudland’s Stacia Wilson (11) hits a turn around jumper in the lane over the Lady Indians Cassie Seal (24) early in the second quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Lady ‘Landers Megan Lunsford (23) is fouled as she looks to dish the ball off as she was cut off on a drive to the basket.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders After grabbing a rebound under Cloudland’s basket Taylor Hick (2) calls for time as she bumped out of bounds by Karlie Bowlins (44) from Hancock County.
On Friday night in the region 1A girls basketball tournament, the Cloudland Lady Highlanders turned in a dominating performance.
The ‘Landers crushed Hancock County 73-30 behind a scrappy defensive effort to advance to the next round to face Cosby.
“I told the team before the game to play defense and let the offense come to you,” Lady ‘Landers head coach Mike Lunsford said. “You’ll score if you play good defense. We got some turnovers but if we weren’t hitting our shots the turnovers don’t matter do they?”
From the opening tip, Cloudland (23-7) didn’t let up and ended the first period with a 13-3 advantage. The ‘Landers quickly extended the lead to 39-12 by halftime and the outcome was a near certainty.
Cloudland was 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from beyond the arc and the Lady Indians did not hit one 3-ball in the contest. Senior guard Gracie Freeman scored 16 points – along with senior post Trinity Vines – while hitting 4-for-5 from long range.
Kenzie Birchfield hit all three of her 3-ball attempts for nine points while Jazmine Birchfield had nine points and nine rebounds.
“Jazz had a good night all around,” Lunsford said. “Gracie played well and shot the ball well. Everybody shot well. We moved the ball around and got some good looks, a lot of assists.”
Cloudland led 62-28 going into the fourth quarter and when senior guard Megan Lunsford hit a trey to open the period it was a running clock from there.
Kadie Bowlin led Hancock with nine points.
Girls region
Cloudland 73-30
Hancock Co. (30)
Neely 3, C. Seal 2, Bowlin 9, B. Seal 6, Gibson 6, Linden 4.
Cloudland (73)
Wilson 8, Benfield 2, Freeman 16, Lunsford 6, Vines 16, Caraway 3, Blair 4, K. Birchfield 9, J. Birchfield 9.
Hancock Co. 3 9 16 2 – 30
Cloudland 13 26 23 11 – 73
3-point goals : HC 0, C 10 (Freeman 4, K. Birchfield 3, Vines 2, Caraway 1)
