Highlanders overwhelm Happy Valley

Published 10:41 am Friday, November 23, 2018

Senior post Trinity Vines reached the 1,000-point milestone on Tuesday night at Sonny Smith gymnasium and the Cloudland Lady Highlanders topped Happy Valley 43-33 in a nonconference girls basketball matchup.

“I have put in a lot of hard work for this,” Vines said. “This is something I have wanted since middle school. It has been my goal for a long time. I spend a lot of extra time after practice on my three-point shot.”

Vines hit a three-ball early in the second period and the game was halted momentarily to present her with the game ball and her team joined her in a group hug. Cloudland held the Lady Warriors to just one point in the period as they took a 26-8 halftime lead.

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“I thought our guards played really good defense tonight,” Lady ‘Landers head coach Mike Lunsford said. “Gracie Freeman did a good job on (Adrienne) Henegar who is their best shooter, and we played good team defense. We switched well defensively and we rebounded. Free throw shooting is something we need to work on though.”

Cloudland (2-2) led 34-22 after three quarters and the closest the Warriors got was nine points in the fourth period after a basket from Shalyn Whitson and a free throw from Henegar got HV to within 34-25.

Vines led all scorers with 15 points with fellow senior Megan Lunsford and Freeman each adding nine points to the ‘Landers points column. Whitson and Olivia Absher each had eight points for Happy Valley.

BOYS

Cloudland 77, Happy Valley 62

In a foul-plagued contest the ‘Landers got 23 points from senior Robert Leeper and Cloudland broke the game open in the third period after scrapping to a 28-28 tie at the half. Leeper scored 13 third-quarter points as the ‘Landers opened a 48-39 lead going into the final stanza.

“First half we were just trying to find our way, find our legs,” commented ‘Landers head coach Gary Harrison. “Everybody played hard in the second half and I’m proud of all 11 of them. We had to try to wear them down and use everyone we had. We had some bad fouls and we have to learn to play defense with our legs. We were reaching in a little bit and we may be still in football mode a little bit.”

A total of 58 fouls were whistled in this one as play got spirited and sometimes a bit rough as you wondered if you weren’t watching a slamball contest. Happy Valley shot a total of 44 free throws in this one compared to 33 for the ‘Landers.

Senior post Bryce Carter scored 18 for HV with James Harmon adding 16 and Dylan Willis scored 11 to the Warriors point total while Bentley Gilbert scored 18 for the ‘Landers to back Leeper’s effort.

GIRLS

Cloudland 43-33

Happy Valley (33)

Long 4, A. Henegar 7, Absher 8, Ball 4, Lunceford 2, Whitson 8.

Cloudland (43)

Blair 2, Wilson 2, Benfield 7, Freeman 9, Lunsford 9, Vines 15.

Happy Valley 7 1 14 11 – 33

Cloudland 12 14 8 10 – 43

3-point goals: HV 1 (A.Henegar) C 5 (Vines 4, Lunsford 1)

BOYS

Cloudland 77-62

Happy Valley (62)

Willis 11, Stevens 8, Carter 18, Cochran 4, Young 3, Harmon 16, Roberts 2

Cloudland (77)

Barnett 2, Stevens 6, Arnold 2, Leeper 23, Johnson 4, Ha. Shell 6, Gilbert 18, Blair 5, Hu. Shell 11

Happy Valley 10 18 11 23 – 62

Cloudland 7 21 20 29 – 77

3-point goals: HV 3 (Stevens 2, Willis 1) C 8 (Hu. Shell 2, Johnson 1, Stevens 1, Leeper 2, Ha. Shell 1, Blair 1)