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STAR CORRESPONDENT

Like many other area teams, the Unaka Lady Rangers took the holiday break to participate in hoops action on the road at Harriman High School as the Lady Rangers squared off in the Harriman Christmas Classic.

Although the results were not what the team hoped for, the experience will certainly benefit come district tournament time.

Harriman…..39

Unaka……….38

The Lady Rangers first contest was a nailbiter as Unaka took the court against the host team in Harriman.

Harriman ran out quick to build a 23-12 halftime advantage against Coach Kenneth Chambers team led by 14 points from the hot shooting Ansley Moore.

Katlyn Dugger paced the Lady Rangers in the half by scoring four of the 12 points while Lauren Lund connected on a triple. Emma Taylor and Alisha Harrell added two points each and Haley Taylor added a free throw.

The Lady Rangers put a run together in the second half as they equalled the home team’s output in the third quarter with 10 each before coming up short in the final quarter of play outscoring Harriman 16-6 down the final stretch.

Dugger’s 14 points led the way for Unaka while Lund finished with nine points. Keyona Hague scored all six of her points in the second half for the Lady Rangers with Haley Taylor and Emma Taylor adding four and two points respectively.

Harrell also finished with two points.

Moore finished with a game-high 16 to lead Harriman.

Oakdale…….51

Unaka……….46

The Lady Rangers were looking to bounce back against Oakdale in their second game in the tournament but once again their fight ended up just short of a victory.

Unaka, who played as the home team, managed to stay close to Oakdale in the opening 16 minutes of play as Keyona Hague connected on 5-of-6 shots for 10 points as Oakdale managed to hold on to a 28-24 lead at the end of the first half.

Emma Douglas added six for Unaka as the Lady Ranger had two of the four treys made by the Lady Rangers in the half. Hannah Yontz and Alexis Fuller accounted for the other two made treys with Alisha Harrell adding a deuce.

Much like in game one, the Lady Rangers continued to battle to make their way to the front but just didn’t get enough shots to fall in dropping the five-point affair.

Hague finished with 16 points to lead the way for Unaka with Lauren Lund scored nine in the second half comeback attempt connecting on three trifectas.

Douglas finished with six points and Katlyn Dugger had four while a trio of Lady Rangers finished with three points each in Haley Taylor, Yontz, and Fuller.

Harrell closed out the scoring ledger with two points.

The Lady Rangers enter 2024 with an overall record of 2-11 and will be getting into the conference slate to begin the new year.