Scorching the Jr. Lady Blue Devils… Jr. Lady Cyclones take down Unicoi Co. during in-school games
Published 1:42 am Friday, January 10, 2020
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Michelle Shields drives toward the goal for two points for the Jr. Lady Cyclones.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Jr. Lady Cyclone Mollie Johnson pushes the ball up the floor after a steal.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
TAD's Marlee Mathena battles a Jr. Lady Blue Devil for control of the basketball.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
The gym was packed for Wednesday's in-school contest between the T.A. Dugger and Unicoi County girls teams.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
A Jr. Cyclone cheerleader peps up the student body during Wednesday's in-school contest.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
TAD's Kayelyn Nave prepares to offer up a three-point shot from behind the arc.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Michelle Shields drives the basketball to the hoop for the Jr. Lady Cyclones.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Marlee Mathena gets ready to go up strong for a shot in Wednesday's contest.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Kiaya Simmons prepares to shoot a pair of free throws for the Jr. Lady Cyclones.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
T.A. Dugger's Mollie Johnson goes up for a shot over a Jr. Lady Blue Devil defender in Wednesday's in-school basketball contest.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
The T.A. Dugger had a whole lot of reasons to give everything they had in a pair of games at T.A. Dugger Jr. High on Wednesday.
Playing before an excited, packed school gymnasium of their peers, the Jr. Lady Cyclones took both games against the Unicoi County Jr. Lady Blue Devils to the delight of the student body.
Varsity
T.A. Dugger….27
Unicoi Co. …..23
Whether it was nerves playing before the packed-out gym or just a cold shooting day, neither team could manage to get any type of momentum offensively as the Jr. Lady Cyclones did just enough to win an important conference game.
TAD managed to work their way to a 14-9 advantage by the intermission as Michelle Shields sliced and diced her way to 10 points in the opening 12 minutes of action.
The sixth-grader had two long treys in her scoring output in the half. Kayelyn Nave showed a nose for the basket as she would tally the four remaining points of the half.
Coach Matt Fox’s team would need that lead as the Jr. Lady Blue Devils made a run in the second half to outscore the home team 14-13 as the Jr. Lady Cyclones made the first-half lead stand up at the end.
TAD was paced by Shields who finished the contest with 18 points in the game including her third trey in the third quarter.
Nave finished with four points while Mollie Johnson added three points in the second half. Kiaya Simmons finished with two points to round out the Jr. Lady Cyclone scoring.
Jr. Varsity
T.A. Dugger…..42
Unicoi Co. …….33
The Jr. Lady Cyclone JV made it a clean sweep following up their varsity team with a nine-point win over the visiting Jr. Lady Blue Devil JV.
TAD jumped out to a 19-12 lead at the intermission and after building their lead to 31-16 at the end of three periods had to fight off a late rally by Unicoi County in the fourth quarter.
The Jr. Lady Blue Devils outscored TAD 17-11 in the final period.
Andrea Flores led the Jr. Lady Cyclones offensively with 15 points hitting 7-of-10 from the foul line in the process. Aubrey Cole was on Flores heels with 13 points in the win.
Peyton McGee tallied four points while two points each were recorded by Jocelin Julian, Lauren Lund, Lilly McDuffie, Kalli Shepard, and Savannah Smith.
