Lady Rangers, Lady Huskies earn wins in District 1-A tournament
Published 12:10 am Wednesday, February 26, 2020
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StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
Cloudland's Matt Birchfield (L) and Unaka's Kenneth Chambers (R) were chosen as Co-Coaches of the Year in the conference.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The 2020 District 1-A All Tournament team are University High’s Mari Johnson. Hampton’s Hazen Brummit, Unaka’s Lyndie Ramsey and Macy Ensor. Cloudland’s Kenzie Birchfield, Jasmine Birchfield and Gracie Freeman. North Greene’s MVP Brooklyn Anderson, Breezy Savage, Shelby Davenport and Haleigh Bernard.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The Lady Rangers Macy Ensor (23) is fouled by Hamptons Hazen Brummit (22) as she goes back up with a rebound in the third quarter.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The Lady Bulldogs Linsey Jenkins (24) is called for the charge as she barrels into Unaka’s Kiki Forney (21) while driving the lane for a last-second shot in the third.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The Lady Bulldogs Linsey Jenkins (24) battles Macy Ensor (23) and Lyndie Ramsey from Unaka for a rebound under Hampton’s bucket in the third quarter.
StarPhoto/Larry N. Souders
The Lady ‘Landers Jasmine Birchfield (22) hits the baby hook shot in the lane over North Greene’s Brooklyn Anderson (50) to bring Cloudland to within one with the clock under 30 seconds left in the game.
BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
GRAY – The girls District 1-A championship came down to the last shot but in the end, it was North Greene (24-8) prevailing over Cloudland 45-42. Breezy Savage canned two key free throws with 5.8 seconds left that gave the Lady Huskies the three-point margin of victory.
“It just didn’t go our way tonight,” Lady Highlanders head coach Matt Birchfield said. “We matched them and hit some big shots and the kids played their hearts out.
“Nothing to be ashamed of they are a good team, a well-coached team and we have had some good battles. These kinds of games make you better.”
Cloudland (22-5) took the early lead at 10-4 after one quarter, but the offense went sluggish in the second period with the Lady ‘Landers scoring just six points in the stanza as NG took a 19-16 halftime lead.
“In the second quarter we kind of got out of our offense,” Birchfield said. “A lot of that was due to their defense, but I thought that might have been the difference in the game.”
The teams entered the final period with the Huskies holding a slim 28-26 lead and Savage opened the stanza with a trey to make it a 31-26 contest.
Heaven Caraway completed a three-point play to cut the Huskies lead to 33-31 but four free throws from Savage and Brooklyn Anderson staked North Greene to a 37-31 lead.
Junior guard Gracie Freeman dropped in a trey for Cloudland and a Mandy Benfield deuce made it a 38-36 game with 1:36 remaining. An Anderson free throw gave NG a 43-40 lead with 30.5 ticks left and Jasmine Birchfield’s deuce brought the ‘Landers to within a point leading up to Savage’s game-ending free throws.
Birchfield and Savage each had 15 points with Freeman and Shelby Davenport each adding 14 to their teams respective total.
Consolation Game
Unaka…….55
Hampton…45
Unaka broke a 12-12 second quarter tie with a trey from Mackenzie Depew and a three-point play from Macy Ensor for an 18-12 Lady Ranger advantage. The Rangers (12-20) got 10 first-half points from sophomore Macy Ensor and eight from Lyndie Ramsey in taking a 27-23 lead into the break.
“Macy has had two or three really big games where she decided to put us on her hip,” Lady Rangers head coach Kenneth Chambers said. “She stepped up when we needed it and even though she’s just a sophomore she brings leadership.
“Lyndie played real good, I thought they did a really good job guarding her but she hit a couple of jump shots and I thought she did a good offensively but it was a good team effort. Give them credit Hampton’s guards played very well.”
Hazen Brumitt scored eight in the first half for Hampton and Hannah Collins added five as the Lady Bulldogs (9-23) kept it close with solid free-throw shooting. The ‘Dogs shot nine-for-11 from the charity stripe in the first half.
In the third period, the Rangers got trey’s from Ensor and Kiki Forney and six points from Ramsey to open a 43-34 advantage going into the fourth quarter.
Ramsey continued her hot shooting in the fourth period with a trey and a deuce for Unaka as the Rangers took a 52-45 lead with under a minute remaining in regulation.
Ramsey finished with a game-high 21 points with Ensor scoring 12 for the Rangers. Brumitt scored a team-high 13 for Hampton with Lizy Jenkins adding nine.
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District 1A Consolation
Unaka 55-45
Hampton (45)
McClain 4, Heaton 6, Hicks 1, Brumitt 13, Milhorn 2, Collins 7, Jenkins 9, Orr 1, Guy 2.
Unaka (55)
Ramsey 21, J. Whitehead 4, Ensor 12, Guy 6, Depew 7, Forney 3, Rice 2.
Hampton 9 15 11 11 – 45
Unaka 9 18 16 12 – 55
3-point goals: H 2 (Milhorn, McClain). U 5 (Ramsey, Forney, J. Whitehead, Ensor, Depew).
District 1A Championship
North Greene 45-42
Cloudland (42)
Caraway 3, K. Birchfield 3, Benfield 5, J. Birchfield 15, Freeman 14, L. Birchfield 2.
North Greene (45)
Britton 2, Savage 15, Davenport 14, Bernard 1, Anderson 13.
Cloudland 10 6 10 16 – 40
North Greene 4 15 9 17 – 43
3-point goals: C 5 (Freeman 4, K. Birchfield). NG 3 (Savage 3).
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All-Conference Team
Hampton – Hannah Collins, Hazen Brumitt
Unaka – Macy Ensor, Jada Whitehead, Lyndie Ramsey
Cloudland – Mandy Benfield, Kenzie Birchfield, Gracie Freeman
North Greene – Hayleigh Bernard, Shelby Davenport, Breezy Savage, Brooklyn Anderson
Player of the Year – Jasmine Birchfield
Head coach – Kenneth Chambers, Matt Birchfield
All-Tournament team
C – Gracie Freeman, Jasmine Birchfield
UH – Mauri Johnson
Hampton – Hazen Brumitt
NG – Breezy Savage, Shelby Davenport, Hayleigh Bernard
U – Macy Ensor, Lynsie Ramsey
All-Tournament MVP – Brooklyn Anderson
