Lady Cyclones earn a return trip to the big dance
Published 11:26 pm Monday, March 6, 2023
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Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Elizabethton’s Reiley Whitson takes the basketball to the hole in the second half of Saturday night’s sectional inside John Treadway Gym.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Lady Cyclone post Marlee Mathena hits a short inbound shot over a Lady Red Devil defender.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Lady Cyclone senior Renna Lane takes the ball with authority to the rim. The Lady Cyclones attacked the rim in the second half to turn a close halftime contest into an easy sectional win.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Elizabethton point guard Lina Lyon is focused on the bucket as she drives the paint.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
As the final seconds tick off, Elizabethton seniors Lina Lyon and Renna Lane embrace as they sealed their second consecutive trip to the state tournament.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
An emotional Lady Cyclone team heads to the bench to celebrate with their teammates after defeating Knox Halls to advance to the BlueCross Basketball Championship in the Murphy Center on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
The Lady Cyclones can finally celebrate their win over Knox Halls in the sectional game.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Holt Honeycutt watches as his Lady Cyclones take turns cutting down the net after their sectional win.
Star Photo/Ivan Sanders
Sophia Shepard is all smiles as she watches her sister, Lady Cyclone Kalli Shepard, take her turn cutting down the net after Elizabethton’s win over Knox Halls.
STAR CORRESPONDENT
The road back to the BlueCross Basketball Championship in Murfreesboro has been filled with Devils for the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones. First, the Lady Cyclones had to dispatch the Greenville Lady Greene Devils in the regional final. Then on Saturday, the Knox Halls Lady Red Devils tried to sidetrack a back-to-back trip for Elizabethton.
Fortunately for the Lady Cyclones, the Lady Red Devils were a little burdensome in the first half before Coach Lucas Honeycutt’s team doused the visitor’s flames in the second half to take a 57-40 win and earn a game on Tuesday morning against Dyersburg in the first round of the state tournament.
Should the Lady Cyclones come out victorious on Tuesday, they would then tangle with the winner of the Upperman and Jackson South Side game on Thursday. The winner of that game advances to Saturday’s tournament final.
The Halls team came to play as the Lady Red Devils managed to keep the game close in the first half trailing the home team by only one point, 22-21, at the break.
Sophia Tharpe kept the Knoxville team in the game as she scored seven first-half points. Raegan Corvette and Megan Biliter played contributing roles with five points each.
Elizabethton’s senior guard Lina Lyon was single-handedly keeping the Lady Cyclones in the contest as she scored 11 in the opening half, often breaking the ankles of the Knox Hall defenders who were trying to stop her on drives to the basket. Reiley Whitson added 4-of-4 from the charity stripe in the first half.
The game changer came in the first four minutes of the second half when the Lady Cyclones stepped away from their outside shooting to attack the basket to go on a 10-0 run building a 32-21 lead that seemed to shock the system of the Lady Red Devils.
Elizabethton went on to outscore the visitors 23-13 in the third period to take a 45-34 advantage to the final eight minutes of play.
The Lady Cyclones shut the Lady Red Devils down in the fourth quarter to outscore Halls 12-6 and give the game its final margin of victory.
Lyon scored a game-high 21 points to lead the victors, while the hard-nosed play of Renna Lane attacking the glass in the second half resulted in 11 points. Marlee Mathena battled to stay in the game after getting three early fouls to hit for 10 points.
Whitson finished with eight points while Olivia Holly drained a trey. Maddie Fowler and Katie Lee finished the contest with two points each.
Tharpe scored a team-high 13 points to lead Halls, while Biliter added eight points. Corvette and Keira Evett chipped in with seven points.
