7th-grade hardwood action continues in the tourney semifinals
Published 11:45 pm Tuesday, February 18, 2020
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Star Photo/Brandon Hyde
Hampton's Audrey Blevins goes for a blocked shot by Happy Valley's Zoey Kindle.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde
Lacey Byrd puts up a nice shot for the Lady Warriors Monday night at home.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde
Lady Warrior Natalie Cline goes after a loose ball with Lady Bulldog Piper Helle defending.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde
It was a tough fight between the Lady Bulldogs and Lady Warriors Monday night at Happy Valley.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde
The Bulldog's Dominque Burleson narrowly avoids a steal by the Devils Monday night at Happy Valley.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde
Hannah Smith makes a great pass for the Lady Bulldog's Monday night at Happy Valley.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde
Hampton's Jared Taylor tries to kick it back outside against a tough Unicoi defense.
Star Photo/Brandon Hyde
Coner McKinney dribbles past a Unicoi defender Monday night.
BY NIC MILLER
STAR CORRESPONDENT
HAPPY VALLEY – As tournament play continues for middle schools in Tennessee, a few local teams are still looking to make a run to tournament titles.
These area teams continued the action in the 7th-grade semifinals Monday night at Happy Valley Middle School.
Monday’s schedule consisted of two games, first a girls matchup and a boys contest to follow.
In the girl’s matchup, it was the Happy Valley Lady Warriors taking on the Lady Bulldogs out of Hampton.
It was a slow-paced game to start out as the defensive units from both teams took over leaving the score after one at 6-1 in favor of the Lady Bulldogs.
The second quarter saw the Lady Bulldogs finally finding their groove as they outscored Happy Valley 11-2 making the halftime score 17-3 in favor of Hampton.
The remainder of the game belonged to the Lady Bulldogs as their offense couldn’t be stopped. After it was all said and done, Hampton went on to win by a score of 37-8.
In the win, Faye Camico led the Lady Bulldogs with eight points, followed closely by Abbie Lunsford with seven, while Piper Helle and Hannah Smith contributed six and five points respectively.
For the Lady Warriors, Lacey Byrd led the effort with five points, while Natalie Cluie scored two and Cayden Anderson contributed one point.
The final matchup of the evening was a boys contest that featured the Blue Devils of Unicoi County and the Hampton Bulldogs.
This game was yet another defensive battle with both teams not being able to penetrate the other’s defense.
Despite the low scoring affair in the first, it was the Blue Devils who would pull ahead to gain the edge at the half, 17-6.
The Bulldogs would begin their second-half comeback in the third but the Devils wouldn’t stop scoring as going into the final period it was Unicoi with the 30-14 advantage over the Bulldogs.
While Hampton still worked on a comeback late in the game, they would fall short as the Devils would go on to win, 44-19.
In the win, Kielet Rodriguez led the Devils with 12 points, followed by Jace Garland with eight and Brock Peterson with six points.
For the Bulldogs, Troy Berry led the effort with eight points, while Tyler Blevins and Dominique Burleson scored four and three points respectively.
