Knox Doss knocks down the door

PORTLAND The preparation wasn’t easy, but the payoff was an overwhelming for the Knox Doss Middle at Drakes Creek girls basketball team.

The 10th-seeded Lady Mustangs captured their first win of the season on Thursday afternoon, advancing in the Sumner County Conference Tournament with a 39-37 victory over No. 7 seed Shafer in a game played at Portland West Middle School.

“The tears they shed today is overjoy,” Knox Doss head coach Tracy Utley said. “Our cup runneth over. I said all year that we may lose every game, but we are going to be ready for the tournament.”

Kanae Carman made a free throw in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter to give the Lady Wave a 29-27 lead.

However, two free throws from Sydney Johnson tied the game, and teammate Sierah Formanek converted back-to-back layins – the second of which came after an open-court steal – to place her squad in front to stay.

Shafer (3-12) pulled back to within a point on Anna Grace Ashman’s putback just 18 seconds later, and the Lady Wave were within two points following Mikhaila Sloss’ transition layin with 62 seconds remaining.

The Lady Mustangs (1-14) missed five free throws in the final minute, but Shafer was unable to capitalize, turning the ball over once and missing three field-goal attempts that could have forced overtime.

“I’m very thrilled and very blessed,” Utley said. “The girls are very selfless, and they have a strong will. I’m very blessed to be with a great group of girls. They are smart. They have character. They have grades. We play with purpose, and we play with pride.

“Coming into the tournament, I knew we would peak. We just had to find the right chemistry and the right personnel. It’s just consistency. We practice daily with a purpose. We’ve done a lot of things to prepare our girls.”

Each team had a player ejected – Johnson and Lady Wave guard T’yauna Alexander – following a fourth-quarter physical altercation.

Alexander and Autumn Pincock led Shafer offensively, scoring 10 points each. Pincock fouled out, as did Knox Doss’ Cassidy Cothron and Abby Knox.

Though there were only two lead changes, the game had five ties.

Cothron and teammate Lauren Knight made first-quarter 3-pointers, but Shafer battled back to tie the contest at halftime and to lead by a point entering the fourth quarter.

The Lady Wave captured a 44-40 victory over visiting Knox Doss on Nov. 30.

The Lady Mustangs advanced to face second-seeded Hawkins in Saturday’s quarterfinal round.

Reach Craig Harris atcharris@mtcngroup.com or at 615-575-7138. Follow him on Twitter @HarrisGNESports.

KNOX DOSS (39) – Darryan Walker 10, Sierah Formanek 6, Lauren Knight 6, Sydney Johnson 5, Abby Knox 5, Cassidy Cothron 3, Lannah Bailey 2, Kylie Abernathy 1, Addison Lafayette 1.

SHAFER (37) – T’yauna Alexander 10, Autumn Pincock 10, Jalie Gibson 6, Mikhaila Sloss 4, Kanae Carman 3, Anna Grace Ashman 2, Emma Donley 1, Jaylen Presley 1.

Half: 17-17. Three-point goals: Knox Doss 3 (Knight 2, Cothron 1), Shafer 0. Records: Knox Doss 1-14, Shafer 3-12.