Little Watauga Small School Tournament: Local teams compete in opening round

Published 7:38 am Monday, January 28, 2019

By Bryce Phillips

Local teams took to the floor at Central Elementary Thursday night as they competed in the Little Watauga Small Schools Tournament.

Girls 

Little Milligan 37, Keenburg 16
In the opening contest, the Little Milligan Lady Buffaloes picked up a decisive win over the Keenburg Lady Tigers, 37-16.
The Lady Buffs were led by an 18-point game from Madison McClain who was followed up by teammate Angel Campion who had ten.
In the opening period, Little Milligan took an 11-5 lead as McClain led the Buff with nine points in the quarter.
At the half, Little Milligan led 17-8 before having trouble scoring in the third quarter as they only managed two points in the period. Keenburg’s Bambi has six points for the Lady Tigers in the third. Heading into the fourth, LM led 19-14.
The Lady Buffaloes opened up in the fourth for 18 points. McClain had 10 points in the period while Compion dropped in six.
Kambrea Scercy had six points for LM while Lilly Ward chipped in two.
Little Milligan played in the girls’ championship Friday night. Pick up Tuesday’s paper for the results of that game.
Boys
Cloudland 39, Central 4
The Cloudland Elementary Jr. Highlanders, behind ten points from Hayden Arnett, scooted past Central 39-4.
The Jr. Highlanders had big second and third quarters scoring 12 and 17 in those periods, respectively.
Cloudland saw Cayden Cordell and Timmy Ingram each score six points for the Jr. ‘Landers while Cameron Stines and Aston Caraway each had five points.
Central’s Ryan James had four points in the game.
The Jr. Highlanders advanced on to play in the championship Friday night.
Girls 
Unaka 24, Central 18
The Unaka Elementary Jr. Rangers had to battle back from behind to top Central, 24-18.
Unaka only managed three points in the first quarter as C. Hardin knocked down a 3-pointer. Central’s Makaela Green had a bucket to make it a 3-2 game heading into the second quarter.
Both teams put six points each on the board in the second period as M. Wilson posted five points for Unaka in the quarter. For Central, Dana Malone dropped in a pair of buckets while Green hit a 2-pointer herself. Heading into the half, Unaka held a 9-8 lead.
After three, Unaka still held a small 15-13 lead before outscoring Central 9-5 in the fourth. Unaka’s A.Creedon had four in the quarter while Hardin chipped in with three. Wilson also had a bucket in the frame. Central’s Brianna Ray had all of the Comets’ points in the fourth as she scored five.
Green finished with six for Central while Creedon had a game-high ten points for Unaka. Hardin finished the game with seven to help the Jr. Lady Rangers’ cause.
The win advanced Unaka on to the championship game which was played Friday night.
Boys
Unaka 37, Keenburg 32
The Unaka Elementary Jr. Rangers were able to survive a slow fourth quarter to overcome Keenburg 37-32 Thursday night.
Unaka came out on fire scoring 16 points to Keenburgs 12 in the first period. Unaka’s Aiden Peterson ripped the nets for six points in the opening quarter while teammate Brady Taylor had four points in the quarter. Both Isaiah Linberg and Tyler Gibson had four points each for Keenburg in the first.
The second quarter saw Unaka out work Keenburg 10-6 as Logan Lewis chipped in four in the quarter. Heading into the half, Unaka led 26-18.
Scoring slowed down in the third as Unaka worked to have a 35-24 lead heading into the fourth.
Keenburg locked things down defensively in the final quarter, holding Unaka to just two points in the quarter while the Tigers posted nine points. Keenburg’s Tyler Gibson had a 3-pointer and a bucket in the frame to pace Keenburg.
For Keenburg, Linberg had ten points while Gill finished up with eight. Gibson had nine for the Tigers.
Peterson led Unaka with nine points while Lewis had eight.
The Jr. Rangers competed in the championship on Friday night.

Subscribe to our free email newsletter

Get the latest news sent to your inbox

More Sports & Outdoors

Lady Cyclones fall to Crockett in 1-2A action

Cloudland hopeful for an upset against ‘Dogs

WJAL Youth Football League hosts 17 games across five locations

Burleson, Jones key in Bulldog win over Panthers

Print Article

SportsPlus

  • Special Section

    More special sections