On Friday evening in the Happy Valley Thanksgiving girls basketball Classic, Lady Highlanders turnovers caused a five-point halftime deficit.

In the second half, Cloudland got down to tough defense and rebounding and pulled out a 44-34 win over Tennessee High.

Juniors Stacia Wilson and Trinity Vines combined for 25 points and 15 rebounds as the ‘Landers shut down the Lady Vikings – holding them to 10 second-half points.

“Stacia and Trinity are two of the better big girls around, I think,” Lady ‘Landers head coach Mike Lunsford said. “They are good ball players all around. We got down by 13 but we kept fighting and battling and came back. Had a lot of turnovers early, they gave us some problems with the press, but we kept getting better as the game went on.”

The ‘Landers led 11-6 after the first period but THS outscored Cloudland by 10 in the second period as the ‘Landers put up just five shots due to turnovers and the Vikings led 24-19 at the break. The Vikings battled to a 32-29 lead at the end of the third period but the ‘Landers opened the fourth period with a flurry.

Jasmine Birchfield scored a deuce, Megan Lunsford dropped in a trey and Vines added a bucket in the paint as Cloudland opened a 36-32 lead. THS post Adison Minor scored to cut the Cloudland lead to two, but Wilson answered at the other end and Vines put down a pair of free throws to make it a 40-34 game with 1:01 remaining in regulation.

Birchfield hit another deuce for Cloudland and Lunsford closed out the game with a pair of free throws.

“Megan and Kenzie had a hard time at the start of the game,” Lunsford said. “But they kept shooting – you can’t give up on what you do – and they started falling for them. They kept their confidence and it paid off.”

Erin Walker led all scorers on the night with 17 points for THS while Vines had 15 and Wilson 10 for Cloudland.

Happy Valley Thanksgiving Classic

Bayless Gym

Cloudland 44-34

Cloudland 11 8 10 15 – 44

Tennessee High 6 18 8 2 – 34