JOHNSON CITY—With both teams looking to close out their regular season with a win heading into next week’s district tournaments, the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones were hoping to avenge a sizeable loss on their home court when they visited the Topper Palace on Friday night.
Even though the results didn’t come out in their favor, the Lady Cyclones came out with ambition and fire and fell by 11 points, 63-52 as Science Hill made their free throws late to take the win.
“I am very pleased with the way we came out and played,” said Lady Cyclone head coach Barry Johnson. “The thing about this team is they have a lot of attributes it takes to come out of a funk like toughness and teamwork.
“An example was senior Bailey Montgomery who didn’t play a lot, but she was the first one to tell the team how proud she was of them.”
What started out as an ugly beginning for the Lady Cyclones soon turned into a barnburner by the end of the first half as Elizabethton rebounded from a 24-10 first quarter deficit to slice the gap to four points by the intermission.
The run was spurred by a seven-point outburst by freshman Kaylen Shell which included two long-range treys and the inside toughness of senior Loran Campbell who worked the paint for a bucket and earned four trips to the foul line where she converted three for five points in the second quarter.
In the opening minutes of the third quarter, it was like two boxers landing big haymakers as each team answered the bell each time one scored the other countered throughout the period resulting in a 49-44 Lady ‘Topper lead.
It was a fast flurry to end the period as Ashley Depew drilled a three with four seconds left in the quarter only to see Science Hill’s Kaitlyn Phillips launch one from mid-court that counted at the buzzer.
An 8-5 run put the Lady ‘Toppers up 57-49 with 3:56 remaining in the contest. A trey each from Elizabethton’s Depew and Science Hill’s Alasia Smith made it a 60-52 contest with 2:09 remaining on an Elizabethton timeout.
The Lady Cyclones were forced to go on a fouling frenzy to put the Lady ‘Toppers on the foul line where the outcome of the game was sealed in the waning seconds.
It was the play of the Lady Cyclone bench that helped to keep Elizabethton in the contest with Shell scoring a team-high 12 points while Destiny Little dropped in nine points.
Depew also finished with nine points while Campbell and Haley Burleson collected six points.
“The bench really came out and gave us a huge lift tonight,” stated Johnson. “That was our goal. I am proud of what they did.”
Science Hill got a game-high 23 points from Phillips. Smith reached double figures with 12 as well for the Lady ‘Toppers.
Elizabethton plays Wednesday at 6:30 in the district tournament at Unicoi County High School.
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Science Hill, 63-52
Elizabethton (52)
Ashley Depew 9, Kaylen Shell 12, Destiny Little 9, Haley Burleson 6, Autumn Lyon 4, Bailey Montgomery 4, Loran Campbell 6, Cameron Koroma 2.
Science Hill (63)
Aliyanna Hill 2,Blair Henry 5, Kaitlyn Phillips 23,Alasia Smith 12, Maddie Ratner 8, Allison Gouveia 5, Symantha Fugate 8.
Elizabethton…. 10 19 15 8 – 52
Science Hill….. 24 9 16 14 – 63
3-Pt Goals: Elizabethton 8 (Ashley Depew 3, Haley Burleson, Kaylen Shell 3, Destiny Little). Science Hill 6 (Kaitlyn Phillips 3, Alasia Smith, Maddie Ratner 2).