Highlanders make a trip to forget to North Greene
Published 12:04 am Wednesday, February 2, 2022
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BY AUSTIN ALEXANDER
STAR CORRESPONDENT
BAILEYTON – Roan Mountain to Baileyton is a pretty solid haul no matter which way you cut it. For Cloudland, their trip home was certainly longer than the trip there on Tuesday as both the boy’s and girl’s teams struggled in their outings against a conference foe.
When it was all said and done, the Huskies took two resounding victories off the ‘Landers sending them home empty handed.
GIRLS
North Greene ….. 53
Cloudland ……….. 40
In the girls’ game, the two teams battled back and forth during the first with four points from Karah Fields leading the way for the Lady ‘Landers. Izabella Christman, Ryan Turbyfill, and Ella Benfield also pitched in to help cut the deficit after one to 13-10.
The second quarter was where the real separation began. Aside from a Saharra McKinney bucket, Benfield had the only points in the quarter as the Highlanders struggled to get anything going.
On the opposite side, North Greene had all the momentum with a 28-16 lead at the half.
Out of the break, the Lady ‘Landers scoring slump hit a peak as despite the girl’s best effort they couldn’t muster a single point trailing 44-16 as the two teams headed into the final frame of action.
With the game pretty much wrapped up, the Highlanders still continued to push themselves with Turbyfill leading the way. Someone finally removed that pesky lid on the rim and the shots started falling.
Layken Blair added a nice bucket, while Kendall Birchfield drained a three in the quarter. The Cloudland rally at the end saved some face as far as the scoring line goes with North Greene winning by a final of 53-40.
BOYS
North Greene ….. 85
Cloudland……….. 40
The boy’s game also saw a Highlander team that struggled to score. The full-court press put some really heavy pressure on Cloudland early and North Greene cashed in on some of the turnovers.
Dylan Shell had two of his team-high 14 in the quarter with Caleb Sluder adding a three and a deep two from Dylan McClellan making up the seven points after one as the Huskies led 24-7.
The Huskies went wild in the second quarter and there was very little Cloudland could do to stop them. Jacob Street’s four points helped the ‘Landers slow the bleeding a bit, but the assault was on. North Greene would score 31 in the quarter and led 55-19 at the break.
The third and fourth quarter were merely formalities as the Highlanders looked gassed and also couldn’t seem to buy a bucket with some incredibly unlucky bounces.
The Highlanders tightened up their defense a little and began taking better care of the basketball, but the Huskies were just too much on the evening as they would win the game 85-40, and North Greene would complete the varsity sweep.
