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Clarkrange dominates paint, downs Houston Co.

Clarkrange dominated the paint during Friday’s Class A quarterfinal against Houston County.

The inside dominance helped balance out a Clarkrange team that struggled from the free throw line.

Clarkrange (30-5) used its inside presence to upend Houston County 64-56 to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. The Lady Buffaloes (30-5) will play Oliver Springs Saturday at 6 p.m. at MTSU’s Murphy Center.

Clarkrange’s two post players, senior Britanny Cooper and sophomore Kara Meadows, combined for 43 points and helped the Lady Buffaloes double Houston County’s 44-22 on points in the paint.

The inside attack is nothing new for Clarkrange. Longtime coach Lamar Rogers said that’s been the Lady Buffaloes’ strategy all year.

“We always try to go inside-out,” Rogers said. “We’re strong inside. We didn’t get a whole lot outside so needed to do good inside.”

Clarkrange struggled from the free throw line for the second consecutive game, hitting 10 of its 19 for 52.6 percent.

“We’ve definitely got to work on those free throws,” Cooper said. “The last couple of days we have kind of struggled with them.”

The two teams traded buckets throughout the first quarter with Clarkrange holding a slim 19-18 advantage after one. The Lady Buffaloes used a pair of 3-pointers from Cooper and Cheyenne Shaver to widen the margin in the second quarter, taking a 34-29 lead into halftime.

Houston County (33-2) was able to close the gap in the second half ending the third to just one, but the Lady Buffaloes ended the game on a 10-3 run, scoring the game’s final four points to seal the victory.

While Clarkrange’s bigs helped in the battle in the paint on offense, it was Houston County that won the rebound battle 31-23. However, it wasn’t enough to offset the physical offensive play down low of Cooper and Meadows.

“It was a tough matchup but we’ve got two big bigs just like they do,” Houston County coach Sam Young said. “They made some plays, we made some plays and down the stretch they made more and that’s what it comes down to with who wins the ball game.”

Reach Sam Brown at 615-259-8232 and on Twitter @SamBrownTN.

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