Jr. Lady Cyclones fight off Lady Warriors
Published 6:12 pm Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Kayelyn Nave goes up strong for a TAD basket.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders TAD's Michelle Shields takes the basketball to the hoop in the Jr. Lady Cyclones contest against Sevier.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Jr. Lady Cyclone Lilly McDuffie goes to the basket for a layup.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Lauren Lund goes in for a breakaway layup while being chased by a Sevier defender.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Jamira Smalls chases down a loose basketball for TAD.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Kayelyn Nave pushes the basketball up the court quickly against a pressing Lady Warrior defense.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders TAD's Savannah Smith works the ball across the half-court line against Sevier.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Aubrey Cole of TAD finds herself in a pickle against the Lady Warrior defense.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders The Jr. Cyclone cheerleaders were on hand to keep the crowd pepped up and the players playing hard.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders Kalli Shepard pulls up for a three-point attempt against Sevier.
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BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
The T.A. Dugger Jr. Lady Cyclones were left beaten and battered but had enough fight in them to overcome a very physical Sevier Lady Warrior team to take a big conference win by a 26-18 score.
TAD learned right off the bat that this team of Lady Warriors from Kingsport didn’t care to mix it up as they pounded, pushed, and pulled their way through the paint to bully their way to the basket to make it an interesting first period of play as a 9-4 Jr. Lady Cyclone lead was built after the first six minutes of action.
Michelle Shields collected five of the nine points in the period while Aubrey Cole and Kayelyn Nave chipped in with two points each in the quarter.
The Jr. Lady Cyclones doubled their lead by the half taking an 18-9 advantage to the locker room.
Shields added six more points to her scoring column in the quarter to help build the edge. Lilly McDuffie hit 2-of-2 from the free-throw line in the period with Cole collecting the other point also from the charity stripe.
The Lady Warriors shaved a couple of points off the lead in the third quarter when the visitor’s outscored TAD 6-4 to make it a 22-15 game heading into the final six minutes of play.
Nave and Lauren Lund scored two points apiece in the third quarter to keep the Jr. Lady Cyclones still in the lead.
Neither team could find much offense in the final quarter as the Jr. Lady Cyclones managed to outduel the Lady Warriors 4-3 to close out the contest.
The points for TAD were collected by Nave who dropped in all four points in the stanza.
For the contest, Shields recorded 11 points to lead the Jr. Lady Cyclones while Nave finished with eight points.
Other contributors were Cole with three points and two points each by Lund and McDuffie.
“As a team, we have to work more on boxing out, rebounding the ball, and being strong with the ball,” said Jr. Lady Cyclone head coach Matt Fox. “There are times that we do box out and we get the ball and we are not strong with it and we are soft and the ball is taken out of our hands.
“Give Sevier credit because they are a pretty good team and are physical. That is one of the key things for them. We have to keep the focus on ourselves and just keep getting better and stay committed.
“We need to work on shooting more as well. We took some shots that were flat and not very good.”
