For three quarters the Happy Valley Lady Warriors had the upper hand on the visiting Unaka Lady Rangers, but when it counted the most down the stretch the Lady Rangers rallied to take a 64-61 win inside Bayless Gymnasium on Warrior Hill.

Lady Warriors Kalee Johnson single-handedly kept the Lady Warriors (7-3) in front, dropping in 25 points in the first three quarters. She got help from post Charli Bare who totaled seven.

However, the Lady Rangers (5-4) just kept charging at the Lady Warriors behind 13 points from Hannah Tipton and 11 points contributed by Katlyn Burrow to trail only 48-45 at the end of three quarters of play.

“We were up and down tonight with good times and bad times,” said Unaka Lady Ranger coach Kenneth Chambers. “We lost the other day in the same situation. I could say good things about every player on this team tonight. Happy Valley is a great team. Everybody played hard, and we stayed after it.”

The difference in the game came down to Burrow and Katlyn Weaver in the fourth quarter as both scored six points each while Tipton dropped in four to push the Lady Rangers to the win.

“Right now we are very accepting of being a mediocre team and are not doing the little things to be a good team to beat a good team,” said a disappointed Happy Valley coach Larry Abel. “We gave up 11 rebounds and most of those they converted with put backs.”

Burrow finished with 20 points and Tipton added 17 to lead the Lady Rangers attack. Sydney Markland and Weaver registered six points apiece.

The Lady Warriors were led by the game-high 25 points from Johnson who fouled out mid-way through the fourth period. The freshman point guard had a solid fourth quarter to finish with 11 followed by Bare with nine points.

Happy Valley 72, Unaka 55 (Boys)

Coach Chuck Babb’s Warriors earned a split with the Rangers as Happy Valley broke away early in the fourth quarter after leading only 45-41 at the end of the third quarter.

The Warriors outscored the Rangers 27-14 in the final period of play.

Austin Hicks had a solid offensive output scoring 16 points to lead the Warriors while teammate Nathan Kyte was on his heels with 15 points. Tyler Torbett and Chris Young knocked down 11 points each.

Ranger Joe Searfoss led all scorers in the contest with 20 points. Colton Chambers added 16 with Kyler Lewis totaling 11 points.

———

Girls

Unaka, 64-61

Unaka (64)

Sarah Tipton 2, Hannah Tipton 17, Lexi Garland 1, Sydney Markland 6, Madison Ensor 5, Katlyn Burrow 20, Katlyn Weaver 6, Sierra Wright 2, Myah Parlier 5.

Happy Valley (61)

Kalee Johnson 25, Charli Bare 9, Bayley McGee 11, Kenzie Davis 5, Emily Whitaker 5, Makayla Frazier 1, Adrienne Henegar 2, Kaitlyn Roberts 3.

Unaka………..10    16    19    19 – 64

Happy Valley…10    21    17   13 – 61

Boys

Happy Valley, 72-55

Unaka (55)

Joe Searfoss 20, Colton Chambers 16, Kyler Lewis 11, Isaac Hill 4, Dylan Carrier 4.

Happy Valley (72)

Brayden Sams 7, Sam Blevins 4, Nathan Kyte 15, Tyler Torbett 11, Austin Hicks 16, Dillon Barlow 6, Chris Young 11, MJ Camargo 2.

Unaka………..11    17    13    14 – 55

Happy Valley..12    19    14    27 – 72