By Kailee Dick
Girls
The Cumberland County Lady Jets defeated the DeKalb County Lady Tigers in District 7-3A play Tuesday night, 43-24.
“I thought our defense was not great in the first quarter, and I don’t think we came out ready to play,” said head coach Kim Cram-Torres. “We can not have slow starts. It never works out for us. The second quarter was a little better. We started to get a little bit of separation. We came in at halftime and talked about the slow start and the carelessness. We didn’t think that we competed hard enough and that third quarter was huge for us.”
It was a slow start for both offenses as the first point of the game came with 5:28 left of the first quarter by Cumberland County’s Sydney Wilhite followed by DeKalb County’s Avery Agee sinking back-to-back three-pointers. Both teams were tied at 8 points each after one quarter.
Wilhite drove in a shot to start the second quarter to give the Lady Jets a 10-8 advantage. Tigerette guard Ella VanVranken answered with a layup a three-pointer within two minutes to give the Lady Tigers a 14-10 lead.
The Lady Jets’ offense then accelerated as Wilhite regained the lead with 3:02 left of the first half at 18-15. Cumberland County finished the first half with their largest lead of the first two quarters at 21-17.
The Lady Jet offense took off in the third quarter as Aliyah Hawkins scores a quick basket to extend the lead 23-17. With 3:17 left in the period, freshman Lauren Clark extends the Lady Jet lead to 31-17 via a layup.
With 15 seconds left of the quarter, Wilhite tacked on two more points to give Cumberland County a 35-17 lead after three. The Lady Jet defense held DeKalb County scoreless for the entire third quarter.
Ella VanVranken started off the fourth quarter with a quick basket to get the offense going for the Lady Tigers as they trailed 35-19. Three-pointers shot by both Hawkins and Wilhite sealed the victory for Cumberland County with a 43-24 final.
Cumberland County improves to 16-6 overall and 4-2 in District 7-3A play while DeKalb County falls to 8-13 and 0-6. Cumberland County hosts White County on Friday while DeKalb County travels to Livingston Academy on Thursday.
“The hardest part of our schedule is coming up,” said Cram-Torres. “We’ve got White County, Stone Memorial, Upperman, and then the Upperman makeup game. So, the hardest part of our schedule is in front of us. We really need to make sure that we get off to great starts, practicing the right way, and there’s nothing else.”
Cumberland County (43): Sydney Wilhite 14, Aliyah Hawkins 12, Jalynn Baldwin 7, Lauren Clark 7, and Dominica Beal 3
DeKalb County (24): Ella VanVranken 13, Avery Agee 6, Chloe VanVranken 3, and Tess Barton 2
Boys
The Cumberland County Jets earned their first district victory of the season against DeKalb County Tuesday night as they defeated the Tigers 43-33 behind 33 points by freshman guard Huston Torres.
“This is great,” said CCHS head coach Taylor Denney. “Obviously you want to win on Senior Night and we got three senior players who we are really glad to send out with a win. They all contributed, but Houston went bananas. He played really well against DeKalb the first time and he came in ready to rock today.”
DeKalb County offense jumped ahead as a Jon Hendrix hits a three to gave the Tigers a 5-0 lead. Torres then hits three consecutive three-pointers to give the Jets a 10-7 lead over the Tigers at the end of the first quarter.
With 6:20 left in the second period, DeKalb County’s Conner Close drove for a basket to give the Tigers the lead at 11-10. Torres hit another three and a fadeaway shot to regain and extend the Jets’ lead, 18-11. Ian Colwell then hits two back-to-back threes for the Tigers as Cumberland County led 22-19 at halftime.
With 2:55 left in the third quarter, DeKalb County’s Seth Fuson hits a three to cut their deficit to 31-27. With 31 seconds left in the quarter, Hendrix scored a basket to pull the Tigers within two points at 31-29. The Jet offense was centered around Torres in the third quarter as he was the only Jet to score with 9 points.
Cumberland County pulled away in the fourth quarter as Asher Mifflin scores a basket with 4:28 left to make the score 33-29. The Jets then hit a combined 10 free throws from Torres, Sol Sitton, and Nolen Carter to seal their 43-33 victory over the Tigers.
“It’s our first district win and we played some people really close, but have not been able to push through that ceiling. So, hopefully that shows us that if we put four quarters together we can bust through that ceiling,” said Denney.
The Jets improve to 5-17 overall and 1-5 in district action while DeKalb County falls to 9-13 and 1-5.
Cumberland County hosts White County on Friday while DeKalb County travels to Livingston Academy on Thursday.
Cumberland County (43): Houston Torres 33, Sol Sitton 5, Nolen Carter 3, Asher Mifflin 2
DeKalb County (33): Conner Close 8, Jon Hendrix 7, Seth Fuson 7, Ian Colwell 6, Dallas Kirby 3, Alex Antoniak 2
