Unicoi County trey’s bury ‘Landers Cloudland defense dominates Lady Devils
Published 11:37 pm Monday, February 17, 2020
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StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
Cloudland’s Ella Benfield (33) is fouled by the Lady Blue Devils Abigail Rush (24) as she puts up a runner in the lane midway through the fourth quarter.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The Lady ‘Landers Jasmine Birchfield (22) drives the baseline and fires an outlet pass from under her own basket in the fourth quarter.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The Lady ‘Landers Heaven Caraway (2) comes off a screen and gets nothing but the bottom of the net as she drains her second three-pointer of the first quarter.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The Lady ‘Landers Jasmine Birchfield (22) lifts a one-handed runner, in traffic, for two in the first quarter.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
After being cut off on her drive in the lane by Unicoi’s Jayla Stockfelt (34) the Lady ‘Landers Mandy Birchfield (14) looks to fire an outlet pass to a teammate.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The 'Landers Hunter Blair (21) hits this acrobatic shot as he splits two Blue Devil defenders under his own basket late in the second quarter.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The 'Landers Bentley Gilbert (14) tickles the nets with the first of his three first-quarter triples midway through the first.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The 'Landers Conner Birchfield (2) lifts a floater in the lane early in the first quarter.
BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
ERWIN – Unicoi County came out with red hot shooting on Friday’s Senior Night – hitting 12 trey’s, nine in the first half – as the Blue Devils took a 71-50 decision over Cloudland in a nonconference clash.
In girls action, Cloudland’s defense forced 16 turnovers and held the Lady Devils to just 11 second-half points in a 60-27 victory.
Unicoi County (16-13 overall) jumped out to a 19-6 first period lead then added 25 second-period points to race to an overwhelming 44-22 halftime lead and cruised to an easy win.
Forward Brett Lingerfelt hit four three-balls in the first half and Brock Thompson was good for three more long-range buckets as the Devils took command.
Junior guard Bentley Gilbert had three first-half treys for the Highlanders (14-13) but was held scoreless in the second half and he finished with nine points. Post Elijah Blair had a game-high 14 points for the ‘Landers.
“Our defense was very bad tonight, across the board,” Highlanders head coach Gary Harrison said. “We had a tough game last night against Hampton and maybe we were a little tired.
“But, that was our worst defensive effort of the season. The number one skill in basketball is shooting the ball and they had a lot of confidence in their shooting tonight.”
Thompson had a game-high 14 points for UC with Lingerfelt adding 12. Nicholas Lynch had nine for the Devils. Cloudland opens the Class 1A tournament on Friday at Daniel Boone against Sullivan North with game time set for 8:30 pm.
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BOYS
Unicoi Co., 71-50
Cloudland (50)
Birchfield 3, Gilbert 9, Hu. Shell 6, E. Blair 14, Childress 5, Julian 5, H. Blair 5, Benfield 3.
Unicoi Co. (71)
Thompson 14, Peterson 1, Lingerfelt 12, O’Dell 6, Slagle 4, Hopson 5, Burcel 2, Holt 5, Hensley 3, Adkins 9, Reed 1, Lynch 9.
Cloudland 6 16 7 21 – 50
Unicoi Co. 19 25 14 13 – 71
3-point goals: C 6 (Gilbert 3, Hu. Shell 2, Birchfield). UC 12 (Lingerfelt 4, Thompson 3, O’Dell, Hopson, Holt, Hensley, Adkins).
GIRLS
Cloudland…60
Unicoi Co….27
The Lady ‘Landers (22-4) took advantage of some sharp shooting from guard Heaven Caraway who hit a pair of first-half treys and the solid rebounding of post player Mandy Benfield and wing Jasmine Birchfield to take an easy win.
Caraway finished with 12 points along with Benfield but Birchfield led all scorers with 13 points for Cloudland. Benfield pulled down nine boards – four on the offensive glass – and Birchfield had seven boards and three steals.
“I thought the game started with good tempo defensively,” Lady ‘Landers head coach Matt Birchfield said. “We held them to a low score, especially their big scorers inside and we made our shots.
“It really helps you on the offensive end when you get on the boards. Jasmine is the kind of kid that is going to give you 100 percent every time and she hit some big shots tonight and Mandy did a really good job on the boards.”
Cloudland took a 37-16 halftime lead and allowed just four fourth-quarter points as Birchfield was able to empty his bench and get a lot of players into the game.
Tenley Holt topped UC with nine points.
The Lady ‘Landers will get a bye on Friday night in the Class 1A tournament and will play the winner of University High and Unaka on Saturday at Daniel Boone with game time set for 6 pm.
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GIRLS
Cloudland 60-27
Cloudland (60)
Caraway 12, K. Birchfield 3, Benfield 12, J. Birchfield 13, Freeman 7, L. Birchfield 4, Ka. Fields 2, Kar. Fields 5, E. Benfield 2.
Unicoi Co. (27)
Holt 9, Street 4, Metcalf 3, Solier 2, Osborne 2, Bailey 5.
Cloudland 21 16 13 10 – 60
Unicoi Co. 9 7 7 4 – 27
3-point goals: C 7 (Caraway 3, K. Birchfield, Freeman, Kar. Fields, J. Birchfield). UC 2 (Holt, Metcalf).
