Cyclones sweep past Warriors in TRC hoops action
Published 10:58 pm Monday, January 6, 2020
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Star Photo/Dawn Lambert Elizabethton's Renna Lane pushes the basketball toward the paint while being guarded by Happy Valley's Kadie Bailey.
Star Photo/Dawn Lambert Happy Valley's Kadie Bailey tries to work around Elizabethton's Kelsie Winters.
Star Photo/Dawn Lambert Happy Valley's Dylan Willis takes the basketball to the rim against Elizabethton.
Star Photo/Dawn Lambert The Cyclones Nico Ashley skies between a trio of Warrior defenders for a bucket.
Star Photo/Dawn Lambert Cyclone guard Donta Earnest soars toward the basket for two points.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
The Elizabethton Cyclones and Happy Valley Warriors were finally able to hook up after a pair of delays due to Elizabethton’s football run and sickness forced the game from its original scheduled showdown.
But as always, when these two teams hook up it doesn’t matter when or where the crowd is going to get its money’s worth regardless and that played true once again as the girls interlocked in a physical showdown that saw the Lady Cyclones prevail 55-47 while the Cyclone boys took a 65-43 victory.
In girls’ action, the Lady Cyclones built a 30-23 lead against a hot Lady Warrior squad that returned from Charleston with the Carolina Invitational title in tow.
It was only Elizabethton’s second game in two weeks as the Lady Cyclones dropped their Friday night contest to Mountain Heritage, NC but Coach Lucas Andrews team seemed to get their bearings a little better in the Three Rivers Conference showdown.
The game was physical throughout as both teams accounted for 30 trips to the charity stripe as the Lady Warriors hit 8-of-14 from the line while Elizabethton visited the stripe 16 times where they converted 14 of their attempts.
While the Lady Cyclones (7-7) were getting it done from the foul line, they were also filling the basket up from the outside as Elizabethton connected on nine treys in the contest.
Renna Lane was loading both barrels as she totaled four treys to finish with 14 points for her efforts. Kaylen Shell led all scorers with 15 points in the contest as the senior also connected on a pair of treys.
Happy Valley (10-5) was led on the night offensively by Jaiden Clark who dropped in 13 points. Kadie Bailey finished with nine points, all from behind the arc, for the Lady Warriors.
“It was a tough win,” Andrews said after the hard-fought win. “We went to defending state champion Mountain Heritage last night and dug ourselves a hole and came back in that game and didn’t win it but then came here and played a physical, rough game like this is a true testament to our kids.
“They bought in the last two weeks of practice and haven’t played in forever. We came out here and executed our game plan and the kids made it look good. They played hard and rebounded the ball well.”
Boys
Elizabethton….65
Happy Valley…43
The Cyclone boys got a much-needed win against Happy Valley after suffering a string of gut-wrenching defeats over the last three weeks as Elizabethton bolted out to a 39-15 15 halftime advantage and never looked back to take the 22-point victory.
Elizabethton (3-9) saw eight players score in the contest led by senior Nico Ashley with 22 points. Jake Roberts and Nicholas Wilson also hit double figures as Roberts dropped in 12 and Wilson 10 in the Three Rivers Conference win.
Happy Valley (4-8) played tougher in the second half outscoring the Cyclones 28-26 but the first half deficit was just too much to overcome.
Dylan Willis led the Warriors with 17 points while Andrew Clawson contributed 11.
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Girls
Elizabethton, 55-47
Elizabethton (55)
Lyon 3, Norris 3, Lane 14, Headrick 9, Bailey 8, Shell 15, VanHuss 3, Roberts 1.
Happy Valley (47)
Campbell 2, Henegar 1, Absher 7, Bailey 9, Clark 13, Lunceford 7, Whitson 8.
Elizabethton 11 19 8 17 – 55
Happy Valley 14 9 7 16 – 47
3-Pt Goals: Elizabethton 9 (Lane 4, Shell 2, Lyon, Norris, VanHuss) Happy Valley 3 (Bailey).
Boys
Elizabethton, 65-43
Elizabethton (65)
Phillips 2, Hughes 4, Earnest 6, Roberts 12, Ashley 22, Willocks 7, Carter 2, Wilson 10.
Happy Valley (43)
Willis 17, Tittle 2, Clawson 11, Roberts 4, Babb 4, Lunceford 5.
Elizabethton 14 25 14 12 – 65
Happy Valley 8 7 17 11 – 43
3-Pt Goals: Elizabethton 1 (Roberts). Happy Valley 5 (Clawson 3, Willis 2).
