Happy Valley sweeps past Unaka in non-conference clash
Published 1:05 pm Thursday, January 4, 2024
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Unaka’s Marcus Shoemaker (45) controls the opening tipoff as the Warriors Dakota Grindstaff (13) tries to intercept the ball at the start of the game.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Unaka’s Rylan Crabtree (15) swats away the Warriors Dakota Grindstaff (13) three-pointer early in the first quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Warriors Dakota Grindstaff (13) slices down the lane for an easy layup mid-way through the first quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Warriors T.J. Good (3) works his way around Unaka’s Marcus Shoemaker (45) for a layup mid-way through the first quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Dakota Grindstaff (13) drops in a buzzer-beating three for the Warriors at the end of the first quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Unaka’s Mason Wilson (12) drills a three-pointer from in front of the Warriors bench to open the second quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Rangers Jackson Deyton (40) is fouled by Happy Valley’s T.J. Good (3) as he pulls up for a jumper in the lane early in the second quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Rangers Jackson Deyton (40) hits the open runner in the lane late in the second quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Unaka’s Mason Wilson (12) splits two Warrior defenders and hits a runner in the lane mid-way through the second quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Lady Warriors Bryanna Nickles (14) drains a triple from just outside of the arc in the third quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Happy Valley’s Josephine Zeoli (32) drops in a three-pointer late in the third quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Lady Warriors Marcida Moore drives down the lane splitting two Unaka defenders on her way to a layup in the third quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Happy Valley’s Josephine Zeoli (32) battles for a rebound while sandwiched between the Lady Rangers Lauren Lund (1) and Keyona Hague (40) under the board in the third quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Happy Valley’s Marcida Moore (23) and Unaka’s Katlyn Dugger (23) battle for a loose ball under the Rangers basket as Haley Taylor (12) looks on in the fourth quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders The Lady Rangers Keyona Hague (40) is fouled as she puts up a runner over Happy Valley’s Ashlynn Sommers (31) late in the fourth quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders Unaka’s Katlyn Dugger (23) scores on a layup after stealing the ball on the other end of the court and racing to the basket in the fourth quarter.
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STAR CORRESPONDENT
Before returning to school from the Christmas break, the Happy Valley Warriors hosted Unaka in a non-conference basketball clash on Tuesday night at Bayless Gymnasium. In boys action the Warriors got 24 points from freshman Darian Jackson in a 73-70 win over the Rangers.
On the girls side the Lady Warriors scored a 44-37 victory behind 14 points from senior Marcida Moore.
Unaka had taken a 39-34 halftime advantage but the Warriors (4-10 overall) rallied in the second half with Jackson scoring 18 second-half points.
“He’s a ball player,” said Warriors head coach Shane Williams of Jackson. “I am waiting for him to be a complete player by making everyone around him better. When he does that we will have a really good player.”
The Warriors took a 53-51 advantage into the fourth quarter and a dog fight ensued in the final stanza. Marcus Shomaker opened the fourth period with a deuce that was answered by Jackson, and at the 4:23 mark, HV took a 61-58 lead.
Jackson Deyton had an offensive rebound put back for Unaka but A.J. Campbell dropped in a trey for a 64-60 Warriors lead. A Jackson layup gave HV a 67-62 lead at the 2:16 mark of regulation and T.J. Good added a pair of free throws to give the Warriors a 69-62 lead.
Mason Wilson canned three free throws to make it a 69-67 game and after two free throws from Jackson, Wilson dropped in a triple to make it a 71-70 contest with 40.1 ticks left on the clock.
Wilson finished with a team-high 23 points for Unaka with Shomaker adding 15 points and 12 rebounds. For HV, Campbell scored 16 points with Dakota Grindstaff adding 14 points and Good finished with 13 points.
“A.J. stepped up and hit some threes,” Williams said. “I thought everyone contributed. We had some guys on the razor edge foul wise, but we managed not to foul out. Unaka is a tough, physical team with size and they used high post and low post and this was a big time battle between county foes that know each other well. I need to get used to these rivalry games.”
BOYS
Happy Valley 73-70
Unaka (70)
McKinney 2, Wilson 23, Crabtree 4, Lewis 9, Shomaker 15, Walsh 5, Deyton 7, Hardin 5.
Happy Valley (73)
Jackson 24, Furr 4, Good 13, Campbell 16, Grindstaff 14, Nickles 2.
Unaka 17 22 12 19 – 70
Happy Valley 17 17 19 20 – 73
3-point goals: U 6 (Wilson 5, Lewis 1), HV 9 (Campbell 5, Grindstaff 4)
GIRLS
Happy Valley 44, Unaka 37
Unaka took a 21-15 halftime lead behind nine points from guard Lauren Lund but the Lady Warriors (7-5 overall) outscored the Lady Rangers 29-16 in the second half with Moore scoring eight of her game-high 14 points in the second half.
The game was knotted at 29-29 after three quarters and Kaitlyn Dugger scored a deuce to open the fourth period. Brianna Nickles dropped in a three-ball and after a deuce from Dugger, she nailed another trey to stake HV to a 35-33 advantage with 5:51 remaining.
“That was pretty big for a freshman,” Lady Warriors head coach Dana Hill said of Nickles. “The Rangers sagged off Marcida but she got a little hot in the fourth quarter. At the half, I challenged Marcida to take over and she stepped up. We worked a lot over the Christmas break on contesting shots and rebounding.”
Senior guard Cayden Anderson hit all six of her fourth period free throws to keep Unaka at bay and she finished with 11 points along with Nickles. Dugger and Lund each had nine points to lead the way for the Rangers with Alisha Harrell adding eight points.
GIRLS
Happy Valley 44-37
Unaka (37)
Lund 9, Douglas 3, H. Taylor 3, Harrell 8, Dugger 9, Hague 5.
Happy Valley (44)
Nickles 11, Anderson 11, M. Moore 14, Sommers 2, Zeoli 4, Skeens 2.
Unaka 5 16 8 8 – 37
Happy Valley 7 8 14 15 – 44
3-point goals: U 5 (Lund 3, Douglas 1, Harrell 1), HV 4 (Nickles 3, Zeoli 1)
