BY DANNY BLEVINS

STAR CORRESPONDENT 

The University High School ladies’ basketball team came into Friday’s game at Cloudland hoping for an upset win. What they found was a buzz saw that is the Cloudland girls’ basketball team.

When it was all over, University High had fallen to a more talented Cloudland team 54-19.

Unfortunately for University High, the game was not as close as the score would indicate. Cloudland’s defense held the University High ladies scoreless during the first quarter and Cloudland held a 22-0 lead at the end of the period.

Mari Johnson finally broke the drought for the Lady Bucs when she hit a foul shot with just over six minutes left in the second quarter but that would be all they could muster during the half.

Meanwhile, Cloudland was clicking on all cylinders as they used a smothering defense to create turnovers and easy baskets.

Cloudland’s full-court press, especially their traps at half-court, kept the Lady Bucs frustrated all night and their best guards found themselves giving up turnovers deep in Cloudland’s end of the court.

Cloudland, who was playing without six of their regular starters because of the flu, scored at will and both teams went into their locker rooms at halftime with Cloudland holding a commanding 36-1 lead.

During this run, Cloudland was led in scoring by Jasmine Birchfield who had 11 points in the first quarter and she was followed by Mandy Benfield who scored four in that quarter.

The second-quarter scoring was almost all Gracie Freeman who drained threes and layups like she could do it for a living. She finished the second quarter with nine points.

University High came out playing better during the second half, but it was too little too late. They were led in scoring during the game by Ryleigh Owen who scored six, Mari Johnson who had a total of five points, Ellie Lopez who scored three and Katy Stancil who finished the night with three points.

Meanwhile, Cloudland took the opportunity to get their younger players some playing time. Cloudland only scored 18 points during the second half but most of these were from their Junior Varsity players.

Cloudland’s Jasmine Birchfield finished the night as the high scorer with 14 points. She was followed by Gracie Freeman with 11, Mandy Benfield had 10, Kenzie Birchfield had six and Ambrien Blair had four points on the night.

After the game, Cloudland’s Coach Matt Birchfield was very pleased with his girls.

“We had to overcome a lot tonight because we had six of our varsity players out with the flu. I am very proud of our younger players who stepped up and gave it everything they had to fill in,” Birchfield stated.

“We got good play out of all of our kids tonight, and we are happy just to get the win. I hope all of the girls get healthy soon because we have some big conference games coming up.”

University High drops to 2-14 (0-5). Cloudland, who is ranked seventh in the state, takes their record to 14-2 (3-0) and will play tonight against Providence at home. Games start at 5 pm.