BLUFF CITY—They say the third time is the charm, but for the Lady Patriots of Sullivan East they wadded that saying up and threw it in the trash.

The Elizabethton Lady Cyclones swarming defense suffocated the Lady Pats in the first half in building a 49-19 lead to remain unbeaten with an 84-41 win.

“I am just so proud of the way they came out and played,” said an elated Lady Cyclone head coach Len Dugger. “They played the game in a pure way. They made so many extra passes to get easy lay ups.”

The game was decided early in the first quarter as the Lady Cyclones (23-0, 9-0) outscored East (19-8, 7-2) 27-7 in the opening eight minutes.

Emily Kiser was absolutely on fire as the senior set the cotton ablaze with five treys in the stanza. If it wasn’t Kiser from the outside, it was Kayla Marosites from everywhere as Marosites hit for nine in the period.

“Emily Kiser got us started early,” added Dugger. “When they started to defend her, we came back and mixed it up.”

Kara Stafford was all the offense the Lady Patriots had as she collected all seven of East points.

Elizabethton kept coming in the second period as they Lady Cyclones constructed a 49-19 lead at the break.

Kayla Marosites was tops in the quarter adding 10 more points to her total and finishing with 19 in the half.

Kelci Marosites dropped in five and Brittany Campbell chipped in with four points.

The Lady Patriots finally managed to get going offensively as Kassidy Nelson dropped in seven points to lead East in the quarter.

Elizabethton came out of the locker room and outscored the Lady Patriots 35-22 to take the 43-point win.

Kayla Marosites finished as the game-high scorer with 29 points leaving her just six points shy of 2,000 for her career. She also yanked down 18 rebounds, handed out six assist, and added four steals in a complete effort.

“I thought she just willed herself,” said Dugger. “She went after loose balls, she rebounded strong. She showed everybody tonight what type of player she is.”

When asked if she kept up with what she was doing on the court during the game, Kayla Marosites was her humble self.

“I don’t keep up with it,” stated Marosites. “I just go out and play and do the best I can.”

Emily Kiser complemented Marosites with 15 points, all in the first quarter, while Kelci Marosites and Emily Schubert notched a double-digit scoring performance with 14 points apiece.

Stafford and Nelson led the Lady Patriots with nine points each. Alyssa Hare tossed in seven as well for East.

Boys

Elizabethton…..68

Sullivan East….59

Freshman guard Eric Wilson handled the ball under pressure while freshman post Carter Everett had a rock-solid start with 11 points and nine rebounds to help the Elizabethton Cyclones give the Sullivan East Patriots their first Three Rivers Conference loss of the season with a 68-59 victory.

“I’m super proud of Carter and Eric because they both played great tonight,” said Cyclone head coach Lucas Honeycutt. “They played like veterans. We had some kids miss practice due to circumstances beyond their control, and we decided to start those two.”

Senior Bo Pless provided all the leadership that the Cyclones (13-9, 7-2) would need as Pless netted a game-high 24 points in helping ‘Betsy avenge a one-point overtime loss to the Patriots (18-7, 8-1) on its home court as the Cyclones kept the Patriot fans inside the Dyer Dome in Bluff City quiet as a mouse for most of the contest.

Clinging to a three-point advantage with two minutes left to play, Coach John Dyer elected to foul Everett and see if the young Cyclone could handle the pressure.

Everett calmly sank both free throws to extend the lead to five and as the Patriots frantically tried to pull even, the ball found its way into Pless’ hands where the senior hit 9-of-10 free throws in the fourth quarter.

“There were a lot of nerves,” said Everett. “Coach prepared us in practice for this. It was a big win for us.”

The Patriots head coach was singing the praise of Pless after the contest.

“Pless played a fantastic basketball game,” said Dyer after the contest. “He was the difference obviously. Elizabethton played great and when it was 59-56, I thought it was a good foul to put him (Everett) on the foul line.

“They made their foul shots so give credit to them. We just never could get into a rhythm. We got some good shots.”

Michael Robinson and Hayden Townsend contributed in a large way as well with 12 and 10 points respectively to help earn the big win.

Gavin Grubb and Cole Green scored 22 points each to lead the Patriots.

GIRLS

Elizabethton, 84-41

Elizabethton (84)

Kayla Marosites 29, Kelci Marosites 14, Emily Kiser 15, Emily Schubert 14, Haley Burleson 4, Brittany Campbell 8.

Sullivan East (41)

Alyssa Hare 7, Kara Stafford 9, Megan Addison 3, Brandy Watkins 2, Kassidy Nelson 9, Gracie Holden 2, Caitlin Stewart 3, Sonya Collins 1, Kylee Wolfe 3, Megan Ollis 2.

Elizabethton.……27   22   21   14 – 84

Sullivan East……  7   12   14     8 – 41

3-PT GOALS: Elizabethton 10 (Emily Kiser 5, Kayla Marosites 3, Kelci Marosites 2). Sullivan East 6 (Kara Stafford, Kassidy Nelson, Alyssa Hare, Megan Addison, Caitlin Stewart, Kylee Wolfe).

BOYS

Elizabethton, 68-59

Elizabethton (68)

Michael Robinson 12, Teve Mushayamunda 7, Hayden Townsend 10, Alex Norwood 4, Bo Pless 24, Carter Everett 11.

Sullivan East (59)

Gavin Grubb 22, Garet Johnson 6, Hunter Owens 5, Hunter Davis 4, Cole Green 22.

Elizabethton.……16   16   13   23 – 68

Sullivan East……12   12   13   22 – 59

3-PT GOALS: Elizabethton 4 (Hayden Townsend, Teve Mushayamunda, Bo Pless, Michael Robinson). Sullivan East 4 (Hunter Owens, Gavin Grubb, Garet Johnson, Cole Green).