BY DANNY BLEVINS

STAR CORRESPONDENT

Cloudland Middle School girls humble Providence Academy 49-6

The Cloudland Middle School girls played Providence Academy on Thursday night and gave them a free lesson in the art of basketball by winning 49-6.

The Landers dominated both ends of the court with impressive speed in their offense and an overpowering defense that only allowed Providence four points in the first half.

The ‘Lander girls pressed almost all night on defense, and Providence simply could not find a way to get the ball up the court.

Meanwhile, the Landers were finding the bottom of the net with almost every shot.

Cloudland’s starters, especially Ryan Turbyfill, Izabella Christman, and Saharra Mckinney could not be stopped and only stopped scoring when the buzzer sounded.

By the end of the first quarter, the score was 24-4 and the rout was on.

The Cloudland girls did not let up during the second and third quarters, and toward the middle of the third quarter, Coach Horney sent in many of her younger players to get some playing time.

They did not let her down and by the end of the game, nine Cloudland players had scored.

Their speedy guard, Ryan Turbyfill, led all scorers for the night with 11 points while Cloudland’s post players, Saharra Mckinney and Izabella Christman, scored nine and eight points respectively.

Adding to this total was Layken Blair with six points, Mia Clark had four, Kaylee Hughes had four, Bella Clawson had three, Kenzi Street had two and Bethany Sluder had two.

Providence had three players get in the scorer’s book. Kirsten Drum, Hannah Carson, and Kenley Green all had two points for Providence Academy.

Providence boys dominate Cloudland, 63-23

The Providence boys gave Cloudland’s boys what can only be described as an old fashion beat-down. Providence came into the game being led in points and rebounds by their six-feet four-inch post player, Cross Chadwick, and he did not disappoint his team or the fans.

Providence jumped out with a fury of points to start the game and before the ‘Lander boys could catch their breath, they were down by twelve points with three minutes taken off the clock.

By the end of the first quarter, Cloudland had dug themselves a hole too deep to get out of, and Providence Academy led 25-0.

Cloudland finally got on the board during the second quarter when Elijah Holtsclaw hit a bucket giving the Landers their first two points of the night. Cloudland was able to score five points during the quarter, and they went into their locker room at halftime down 32-5.

Providence star player, Chadwick, had to leave the game to get a cut bandaged and Cloudland tried to stage a comeback during his absence.

They could do little with the basketball machine that is Providence, though, and ended the quarter down 42-16.

Though the game was an obvious blowout, credit to Cloudland’s Coach Johnson and his players for not giving up. The Cloudland boys hustled and played like the scoreboard was tied and they were in overtime. Though they lost the game, they won some fans who recognized their hustle and effort.

Cloudland was led in scoring on the night by Eli Morgan and Nick Caraway who each had six points. Hunter Oakes also had four in Cloudland’s losing effort.

For Providence, their superstar Cross Chadwick had 23 points and Josh Marmo put in 18 on the night.

The Cloudland girls and boy’s next game will be on December 2, 2019, at Happy Valley Middle School. The first game starts at 5:00.