SPORTS

Westmoreland, Cheatham County girls building a rivalry

Westmoreland wins battle of Class AA top-10 teams, facing potential postseason rematches

Chris Brooks
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee
Westmoreland’s Karley Smith eyes the basket before attempting a 3-pointer as Cheatham County’s (25) defends during Friday’s game.

WESTMORELAND – Six meetings in two seasons breeds a lot of familiarity, if not some respectful contempt.

District 9-AA foes Cheatham County and Westmoreland’s girls teams met for the sixth time in two seasons on Friday, with the Lady Eagles holding off a Lady Cubs rally for a 58-53 victory.

Both teams entered the contest ranked in the Associated Press statewide poll for Class AA. Cheatham County (18-2 overall, 6-1 in District 9-AA) was ranked second, while Westmoreland (17-2, 6-1) was 10th.

Kaitlyn Norman scored 20 points for Westmoreland, while Emmy Nelson had 16 for Cheatham County.

Cheatham County head coach Jim Gibbs said it was a mirror image of the teams’ first meeting this season, a 52-48 Lady Cubs victory in Ashland City on Dec. 6. It was Westmoreland’s last loss, as the Lady Eagles extended their current winning streak to 13 games.

“It was basically just a reverse,” Gibbs said of Friday’s game. “We had the lead and (Westmoreland) worked it down to two, just like we did (Friday).”

The teams met four times last season, with each winning on its home court in the regular season. Cheatham County won both postseason games, however, including a 45-24 victory in the Region 5-AA semifinals that ended Westmoreland’s season.

But the prospect of additional postseason meetings isn’t on either coach’s mind.

Cheatham County’s Josie Bumpus battles Westmoreland’s Kaitlyn Norman (left) and Karley Smith for a rebound during Friday’s first quarter.

“It wasn’t like we didn’t do that last year,” Gibbs said. “At this point, you’ve just got to move to the next game. We can’t focus on (Westmoreland), because we’ve got a good Harpeth team and we’ve got four out of our final five district games on the road.”

Westmoreland head coach Cherie Abner added, “That’s just one of two (regular-season) battles. We may see them up to two more times. I l like the fact that we’ve protected our own court. I don’t think they’ve beaten us (at home) yet.”

Cheatham County raced out to a 10-4 lead on Friday, only to watch Westmoreland halt any Lady Cub momentum with a 17-2 run of their own into the second quarter.

I know we made a run, but when you’re in the thick of it, you don’t really realize how many points it is,” Abner said. “We talked about runs. We talked about us not getting too high or low and using our crowd to our advantage. We can’t get a better opportunity to play (Cheatham County) in these situations before it really matters.”

Reach Chris Brooks at cbrooks@tennessean.com or 615-575-7118 and on Twitter @CBrooksTN.