Cloudland, North Greene take 1-A tourney wins
Published 12:53 am Saturday, February 19, 2022
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Star Photo/Gracie Fields Cloudland's Izabella Christman steps out to play defense against a Unaka ball handler.
Star Photo/Gracie Fields Unaka's Lyndie Ramsey drives the ball to the rim for the Lady Rangers.
Star Photo/Gracie Fields Lady Ranger Macy Ensor looks to force the action into the paint.
Star Photo/Gracie Fields Unaka's Mailey Guy looks to pass to an open teammate in District 1 1-A action.
Star Photo/Gracie Fields Hampton's Piper Helle pushes the ball toward the rim against the North Greene defense.
Star Photo/Gracie Fields Cloudland's Saharra McKinney handles the basketball for the Lady 'Landers against Unaka.
Star Photo/Gracie Fields Unaka's Tara Whitehead works the ball into the front court for the Lady Rangers.
Star Photo/Gracie Fields Hampton's Taylor Berry lines up a free throw attempt.
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BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
On Friday night at Bayless Gymnasium in the District 1 1-A girls tournament, North Greene continued it’s Watauga Valley Conference dominance with a 68-42 win over fourth-seed Hampton while Cloudland got major work from it’s post players and beat number two-seeded Unaka 56-44.
The Lady Huskies and Lady Highlanders will meet on Monday for the WVC tournament championship.
Senior post Kara Fields scored a team-high 19 points for Cloudland – including three trey’s in the pivotal third period – that saw the Lady ‘Landers take a 19-point advantage into the fourth quarter.
“It was a big time for the senior to step up,” Lady ‘Landers head coach Matt Birchfield said. “Big night for her to make some big shots. I wanted us to start fast defensively, especially in the first half. They have so many good shooters and I thought our team defense was tremendous tonight.”
The Lady ‘Landers (17-7, 5-4 WVC) defensive pressure was something the Lady Rangers could not solve and they suffered one of their poorest shooting nights of the season. Junior Lyndie Ramsey scored a game-high 28 points but the combined Lady Rangers team scored just 16 points.
Leading 29-21 at the half, the Lady ‘Landers outscored Unaka 16-6 in the third period to open a 44-25 advantage going into the fourth period. In the stanza, Fields connected on three of her four trey’s and junior post Ella Benfield scored five of her 18 points.
A six-point run by Unaka enabled the Rangers to close to within 50-37 at the 2:05 mark but Cloudland was able to finish out the win and set up the championship clash to come.
North Greene… 68
Hampton……… 42
North Greene (20-12, 9-0 WVC) got double digit scoring from three different players with Shelby Davenport scoring a game-high 26 points. Sonya Wagner added 14 and Haley English scored 11 more. The Lady Huskies built a 30-20 halftime lead but were only able to extend their lead by one point going into the fourth quarter.
That’s when the wheels came off the wagon for Hampton (18-14, 3-6 WVC) as Davenport became a one-woman wrecking crew with 16 points as North Greene scored 27 fourth quarter points while holding the Lady Bulldogs to nine points.
Senior Madison McClain scored a team-high 19 points with Linsey Jenkins adding nine and Macy Henry adding seven. The Bulldogs will face off against Unaka on Monday in the third-place game.
“We kinds shied away from contact and we really didn’t do a good enough job on the boards,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Brandon Carpenter said. “We did a much better job on the boards against them the last couple times we played them, but for some reason we shied away from it tonight.”
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Cloudland 56-44
Cloudland (56)
Benfield 18, McKinney 5, Turbyfill 7, Christman 7, Fields 19.
Unaka (44)
Simerly 2, Ramsey 28, Whitehead 7, Forney 2, Ensor 1, Guy 4.
Cloudland… 15 14 16 11 – 56
Unaka……… 10 11 6 19 – 44
3-point goals: C 6 (Fields 4, McKinney, Turbyfill), U 4 (Ramsey 2, Whitehead 2).
North Greene 68-42
Hampton (42)
Helle 2, M. McClain 19, Henry 7, Jenkins 9, Berry 5.
North Greene (68)
Sanders 2, English 11, Britton 7, Davenport 26, Wagner 14, Anderson 4, G. Buchanan 2, Bailey 2
Hampton… 12 8 13 9 – 42
N. Greene.. 14 16 11 27 – 68
3-point goals: H 7 (M. McClain 5, Jenkins 2), NG 2 (English, Davenport).
