The Highlander

King, why would you get kicked off again? I thought married life, and now impending fatherhood had mellowed you out dramatically? Have you not been behaving yourself? You'd better not let the designated wife find out! The Highlander

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE: Cloudland 56 Providence 35 Well, the game started off with the same bang as a number of our games this year...a Jordi Miller three. From there, it went downhill for the Knights. The 'Landers dominated every aspect of the game convincingly for most of the contest. The Knights have improved from last years team however. And with the addition of one young lady in particular, number 34, didn't get her name, they will possibly surprise a few teams that aren't expecting that level of ball-handling. She led the Knights in scoring with 17, and handled herself commendably well. She would make a nice addition to many of our Seven teams. Other than that however, the 'Landers had a field day. The nicest play of the evening may have come from newcomer Brittany Reece. She tied with J Miller with a team-leading 10 points. Very nice game from Brittany, I and many others expect her to pick up our game as we continue through the season. BJ Johnson had little trouble breaking the press, and distibuting the ball liberally to the other perimeter players and inside. She is amazing at her ability to penetrate and dish to the open player. If you only commit one player to stopping her, she just makes them look silly. That means someone is bound to be open, and BJ will find them. Sydnie Buchanan pulled down her usual abundance of rebounds, I didn't count, but I am pretty certain she led everyone in that stat again. All the inside players added several, and Jordi also kicked in at least five of her own. Many players had significant minutes in the game, and the scoring was well-balanced. No, it wasn't a tough game, but I think Providence has improved over the last two years, and with the addition of a couple more recruits, they may just step up and surprise someone. The Highlander

Okay, c'mon, somebody tell us who won the Eton-Unicoi and Unaka-Cosby games! Cloudland took care of business as expected, see the Lady 'Lander Update on the Cloudland thread. Thanks, The Highlander

Okay, one more thought. Probably too much caffeine this morning... My predictions for tonight's games: Elizabethton by six over Unicoi Unaka by twelve over Cosby Someone post scores this evening, I'll be watching the Cloudland game of course. The Highlander

By the way King-ZazA, I would like to congratulate you on your impending fatherhood. It is a life-changing event, and one you will never regret. I can already detect a more mature, introspective, and respectful tone in your posts. And I agree that the baby will have a good mother, if it is a little girl, she can be another Lady Highlander. If a little boy, then Uncle Mark would make a fine athletic role model. The Highlander

I have another suggestion as well. Since Providence is the weakest link on Cloudland's schedule (and I agree that we would be better off playing almost anyone else...I'll just miss the ice cream) we can drop them to free up a non-conference game. Since Elizabethton doesn't play a creampuff non-conference schedule it will be much harder for them to find a weak game on their schedule to dispose of. But I'll suggest single-A bottom rung University High. Sorry CycloneFan, I hope I'm not TOO high on the creampuff-sarcasm scale there! Anyway, that takes care of Elizabethton-Cloudland and it also matches up two basically equal teams that now need games. The University High vs. Providence Academy game could be added to the schedules to complete the lineup. Seems like that would take two power programs and have them play each other, and take the two creampuff's and match them up. Everyone wins! The Highlander

Krich, Thank you for your reply. I feel much better now after getting it all out of my system! Heck, everybody plays at least one patsy team every year. Even the Lady Vols play George Washington for instance. I'm just a little put out at the change of opinion some of our local "experts" (and I put myself in that category of Monday morning quarterbacks) have had this year. If Cloudland beats a team, well they just weren't as good as they were supposed to be. But if we had lost, well we told you the 'Landers weren't very good. That is very aggravating. And for Screenandroll, I should add SNR isn't one of the posters I've noticed flip flopping. SNR just kicked me out of my drowsiness and gave me a prod to respond! Are the Highlanders perfect? Good grief no! But like Elizabethton, South Greene, Unicoi, and maybe a couple of others in the area, they will give anybody a doggone good run for their money when they are on. And I'll put up money that no one is working any harder during the season, or between seasons than the Ladies on the Mountain! By the way, I forgot to mention that Cosby had four players, including two starters, that didn't dress out against us for injury and health reasons. I honestly don't think Cosby is that bad a team, we made them look bad, and they didn't line up their best against us in the first place. The Highlander

SNR, I can answer why we schedule Providence Academy in three words...HOT FUDGE SUNDAES! If other area teams had as good a concession stand, we might play them also. Actually, I've been told that Providence Academy has elected to be in our conference, that would be why we are playing them. And I certainly agree that playing a tough schedule develops championship teams. But while Elizabethton will play Hampton and University School, they would not schedule us. Len inherited his schedule, so I would expect that to change next year. Happy Valley will not schedule us in the regular season, South Greene would not schedule us this year, although they would scrimmage us in Greene County. In exchange for those games, we picked up AAA Greeneville, and Mitchell County, NC. Because we have dominated the Christmas Tournament in Avery County (beating Elizabethton in the championship as I recall), we aren't going there this year. Instead, we are going to Harriman and playing more of the mid-state teams we don't usually get to see. However, I'm a little perturbed at comments by a number of our armchair coaches this season. Cosby is the only single-A team we have played this year, and they have historically been a pretty good team. Last year in Cosby they gave us a good game, don't remember the score, but I think we won by 12-15. Tough, very physical game. Has it occured to anyone that the reason Cosby looked so outclassed is the superior play from the 'Landers? We played Happy Valley, one of the better teams in the Seven, beat them at home. We lost a multi-year starter (Shellie McKinney) in this tourney, against Morristown West. Then we went to Unicoi County, played the #1 team in the Seven in many people's opinion, started the fourth quarter down by double-digits and came back in beat them in double OT. Now, instead of ending people's speculation about our depth, or talking about how well we played through adversity, the "experts" on here just decided that maybe Happy Valley and Unicoi really were not that good afterall. Quite frustrating. As to our depth, we have started seven different players this year already, and will likely see the eighth soon. Yes, we lost to Morristown West, a AAA team that Elizabethton played a great second half against and eventually beat. But, check their rosters. Cloudland was the only team in the tourney that played a full complement of Morristown West's starters. They were short at least one starter in each of their other two games. And we had our worst half of the season in the second, when it mattered. We just didn't finish business. The Lady 'Landers have two mottos this year: #1 Pity the Unprepared and #2 Success Breeds False Friends and True Enemies, Succeed Anyway The common thread here is that just maybe the 'Landers are a little deeper and a little gutsier than they are being given credit for. And if they play a pushover team, so what, let them have a fun game. There is at least one pushover on everyone's schedule. What does Elizabethton learn by thrashing UH? What does Unaka learn by winning 82-10? The Highlander

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE: Cloudland 51 Cosby 21 Well 'Lander Fans, The Eagle has landed in Roan Mountain, and it wasn't pretty. The 'Landers hit Cosby and knocked them for a loop...just about the time they got off the bus... The Eagles did have a lead on Cloudland at 2-0, then Jordi Miller hit the first of her threes, and the 'Landers were off to the races. Miller ended the first period with three 3-pointers, BJ Johnson added two more, and Sydnie B. hit a free throw to total 12 points in the first quarter. That was Cosby's total at the end of the first half. Cloudand never let the Eagles score double digits in any quarter, and in fact they didn't score in double digits in the entire second half. Not much to say, I hope the Eagles enjoyed a fine dinner at Bob's Dairyland, at least it wouldn't be a totally wasted trip. Jordi Miller finished as the game's high scorer, putting on a shooting clinic by hitting 5 three-pointers. Brooke Johnson added twelve more, Sydnie had nine, Bekah Tolley pounded in six from the paint, plus one from the charity stripe. Danielle Potter got her very first varsity start and tallied four points, several rebounds, and two fouls (inside joke there!). Britanny Reece and Julia Wilson completed the scoring with two apiece. Next up is Providence Academy. Not much of a game, but dang the Hot Fudge Sundae's are great! And the people are the most friendly of anywhere we will play this year. Great job Ladies! The Highlander

CoachH, I generally like to say only positive things about kids in public places, but the game was pretty much a snoozer, and I think the Ladies looked at it as a scrimmage. Coach played the bench for significant minutes, and we didn't pressure the ball much. High intensity defense and the more normal high speed transition game Cloudland plays would have resulted in a much more lop-sided win. Good time to work on set plays, run some offensive possessions through to the best shot, etc. All but two of our players scored, and one of them got robbed twice with the ball inside the net and finding its way back out. Johnson County has a couple of good players, namely Angie Church (who was 11 of 13 from the "oops" line) and Kechia Eller. Without the free throws (Eller only missed two as well) the game would have been ridiculous. J.C. had only 18 points from the floor. I haven't seen Unaka play yet, that could be a better matchup, and certainly J.C. would find a game against University High. Friday night's game against Cosby will be a better indicator of how we are playing this week. Also keep in mind we played Unicoi and Johnson County short one starter. She'll be back next week I hear. The Highlander

To make these posts easier to locate for the 'Lander faithful, I've decided to post them in their own topic, instead of the format of the last three years, which had them in Krich's Tri-County Weekly Post. This seems to make more sense, and will not tie up the TCWP quite as much. If you 'Landers don't like the format, please let me know. LADY 'LANDER UPDATE - Johnson County Well, the Lady Longhorns rode into Roan Mountain looking for a rodeo. But they pretty much had the saddle put on them by the 'Landers. The final score was 50-37, but the Longhorns really were never in the game from the get go. By quarter the scoring was: 1st 14-6 2nd 33-20 3rd 39-30 4th 50-37 The Longhorns were kept somewhat in the game by the 'Landers amazing ability to foul Angie Church. (That's where the saddle part comes in--we definitely had one on her and Kechia Eller). At halftime, JC had actually only scored 6 points from the field, the remainder of their points were from the charity stripe. Over half of their points in the game came from gimme's. The first quarter saw Jordi Miller drain a couple of 3's to match JC's entire team production for the period. BJ added a bucket and two free throws of her own, while Sydnie Buchanan and Bekah Tolley put in baskets as well. Really not too much going on in the period. Second quarter action picked up, with both teams having their highest scoring periods. Sydnie B. lit it up for 5, with her own three pointer, BJ pumped in four more, Jordi hit another three also. All in all, Cloudland had six girls score in the period. JC tried to match up with a 14 point period of their own. The Church free throws totaled 8 of 9 plus a basket in just the 2nd. Eller also got many trips to the charity stripe and hit 4 of 6. Unfortunately for JC, that was all they could muster for scoring in the period. I have a hunch Coach Birchfield will be stressing the importance of not fouling in practice tomorrow. Cloudland let down somewhat in the third, with various lineups on the floor. JC actually outscored the 'Landers 10-6 in the third. Both teams appeared sluggish after the intermission. Maybe a few Dr. Enuf's would help at the Cosby game this Friday! Fourth quarter, Cloudland picked up where they started the game with pressure defense causing problems for JC. Danielle Potter had a big game for us of the bench, with 4 of her 8 points coming in the fourth. BJ added three more, and Brittany Reece and Bekah Tolley adding baskets as well. Really not a lot to say about the game. BJ led Cloudland in scoring with 11, Jordi Miller poured in 9 more, Danielle Potter had maybe her best career game with 8 points, unfortunately she also led us in fouls with 5. Johnson County needs to find someone that will step up and help draw attention from Angie Church and Kechia Eller. Church led the game with 15, and Eller had an additional 12 points. The problem is, no one else had more than 4. Next up is Cosby on Friday night at Sonny Smith Gymnasium. Don't sit on your hands, come on down and support the Highlanders!! The Highlander

Actually, I agree with King...uh...Zazzy...whoever...I would love to see the 'Landers and the Cyclones playing a regular season game each year. Don't mean to start a war, that seems to be a sore spot for some. Aside from bragging rights to the county, I would think all the enter county rivalries are the biggest draws of the year. Just playing the Cyclones one game per year on a home-away schedule would be great. If I were doing the scheduling, I'd put the game after conference play and before the tournaments started, great tune up for both teams. Big buildup in interest in the community, I don't really see a negative, except of course someone has to lose the game. Maybe Len will work on this for the coming years, I know his schedule this year was set when he inherited the team. The Highlander

Thank you sportiemom! The Highlander

ptguard12, As always, I'm amazed at the breadth of your knowledge of statewide teams. Thank you for the dedication it takes to even keep up. To give you an update on Cloudland, the Lady 'Landers beat AA Unicoi County tonight 46-41 in two OT's. Exceptionally good win over a talented, well-coached team. We were down the entire game until a Jordi Miller three with about a minute to go in the game gave us our first lead. Good comeback win over a big rival for us. I'm extremely proud of the team, it's easy to win when you are up, but to come from a 10+ point deficit, in the fourth quarter, in their house, is really impressive. Thanks again, The Highlander

Coachh, I would like to remind you to please ignore "King." We do. The Highlander

Lady 'Lander Update: Cloudland 50 Morristown West 63 Well, those of us that know the team have been saying all week, we just didn't look as sharp as normal, even though we were winning by 15+. In both games this week, we let the opponents hang around far too long before putting them away, and we just were playing a step slower than we should be. Last night, Morristown West pointed out our flaws. Cloudland pulled out to an early lead in the first, behind the sniper-like shooting of Jordi Miller with nine points in the first quarter. However, the lead was short-lived, and was not repeated in the game. MoWest plays a lot like Cloudland, pressure defense, quick transitions, small and athletic players. Saturday they had a full-roster for the first time this week as well. And they played both halves of the game, with only a little let down in the third. The high-pressure defense, and our mental mistakes doomed us to play from behind, and foul trouble again added to the difficulty. Oh well, watch the film and learn from our mistakes, move on to the next game. We made too many unforced turnovers, too many fouls (not even counting the phantom fouls one of the ref's kept calling on us). It's tough to beat a team when you let them get to the charity stripe 29 times in a game. Actually, in the first half the fouls were grossly out of line in Cloudland's favor, and apparently one of the officials took it upon himself to even it up in the second half. Two phantom fouls on BJ put her on the bench, while J also ended up sitting with four. J was also robbed of her fifth three-pointer of the game when a jump-stop was called for traveling. That helped 'put out the fire' in the second half. Not making excuses (much), we were out-played and out-hustled by a good ball team. On the positive side, Sydnie Buchanan had another stellar performance with 9 points and 14 rebounds. And finally, to those of you who saw Shellie McKinney being carried out, she is fine, she does have a minor ankle sprain that will require rest (and probably ice cream, cakes, and presents!). Next up is Unicoi County on Tuesday, at Unicoi. The Highlander

Lady 'Lander Update: In the continuation of a cross-county rivalry dating back to Middle School (really even youth club), Cloudland played Happy Valley tonight. Oddly enough, Cloudland was the home team, playing on Happy Valley's floor. The end result was another win for the Lady 'Landers, 53-37. As it was Wednesday night, the final score was not truly indicative of the game, with the 'Landers pulling ahead and putting the game away in the fourth. It was somewhat closer most of the game, although the 'Landers never trailed in the contest. Brooke Johnson padded her stats with another good shooting performance, 19 points and at least 6 assists. However, the big story was the best performance of the season from Rebekah Tolley. Bekah had 12 points, mostly in the second half. The inside game was the weak spot Wednesday night, and Bekah, Shellie, and Brittany closed that loophole this evening. Defense was exceptional most of the game, with Jordi Miller wreaking the most havoc in HV's game plans. She had several steals, including one underneath our goal on an inbounds play. J also disrupted HV's passing lanes, and broke up several plays. She added two 3-pointers to the bottom line as well. Our perimeter play carried the game on Wednesday against Boone. Tonight it was the inside play that did the damage. Bekah stepped up and hit her block shots, and added some from the charity line. Rebounding was also good, my unofficial count had us boarding 25+, Happy Valley was usually one and done on their end of the floor. Sydnie B. added a good handful of rebounds, and six more points from the paint. Of course, Cloudland's sharpshooters still performed, Jordi, BJ, Shellie McKinney all had three's in the game. Who you gonna' play help defense on? Sorry, I don't have the quarter by quarter scores tonight, got excited and misplaced my stat sheet! I do recall it was 16-10 after one, and 22-20 at the half, Cloudland up all the way. The Highlander

Can't help with the whole schedule but.. Friday at 7:00 pm is Cloudland vs. Happy Valley Saturday at 7:00 pm is Cloudland vs. Morristown West The Highlander

Lady 'Lander Update: Well, the final score against Daniel Boone last night (shouldn't that be Dannielle Boone, since it is the ladies?) was: Cloudland 53 Daniel Boone 38 By quarter: 1st 15-11 2nd 30-26 3rd 44-35 4th 53-38 The game wasn't particularly pretty, the 'Landers trailed for the first time this year, although it was only at 3-0 to start the game. Brooke Johnson had another outstanding performance, pumping in 20 to lead the team. Guard play in general was good, Jordi Miller added 7 with two 3's, Sydnie Buchanan netted 8, Amber Clawson added a three, and Brooke Hughes had her best game of the year with two 3's and a 2. Unfortunately, both Brooke's got in early foul trouble and got to be spectators for stretches of the game. That did give some "experience" minutes at point to Amber Clawson, who hit a nice three on an assist from Jordi M. Sydnie B. also handled the ball well, proving we have a very capable cadre of guards this year. Inside play was ok, although not up to our usual standards. Lost track of the rebounding, but I suspect it was pretty well even. Got to pick it up a little, but the scoring and rebounding was fairly well spread around between Shellie McKinney, Brittany Reece, and Rebekah Tolley. We did have some foul trouble, not that we weren't committing them, it just seemed like all our fouls put the DB'ers on the line, while we shot very few times. That hurts. No fault of the ref's, we just fouled at the wrong times. At least we didn't get robbed like University High. Had I been the coach at UH, I would have been thrown out without a doubt. I'd still be yelling. See you at the game on Friday. The Highlander

Bucdaddio, Thank you for the nice words about our Ladies, but I gotta be honest with you. Those of us that know the team were a little disappointed with the game against DB last night. BJ shot the ball extremely well, and Sydnie B. hit her season high with 8 (I believe), Jordi M. was ticked to only score 7 (about half her average) and only two 3's. Brooke Hughes added a couple more three's, as did Amber Clawson, so we did get a fair amount of production from the perimeter. However, we looked sluggish, and that caused us to get into foul trouble. Just glad there is no such thing as a TRIPLE-bonus! Inside play was indifferent as well. Rebekah, Shellie, Brittany looked ok, but none really played to their potential. Too many missed opportunities that they would have converted usually. I don't know the rebound count, but I think it may have been close to even, and that isn't normal for us either. We should be back to normal and look a little more like ourselves against Happy Valley on Friday. The Highlander

Lady 'Lander Update: The 'Lander's first game of the season (finally!) arrived last night at Sullivan East. The girls showed no rust, and picked up right where they left off the season last year. They played a dominating, fast-paced game in both directions, never trailed (I think), and just plain out-played East in every facet of the game. The final score of 60-40 was not really indicative of the tone of the game, Cloudland led by as much as 30 before playing the bench. Our starting five was easily able to handle the man defense East threw at them, with Brooke Johnson just having a field day cutting through the middle to shoot layups, finishing with 16 points. Sydnie Buchanan also had an easy basket to open our scoring for the season. East initially did do a good job preventing Jordi Miller from getting off any shots on the perimeter, mainly by having a 6-footer in her hip pocket. But when they had to come out of the man defense, that ended as well, Jordi finished with three three-pointers and a total of 13. Shellie McKinney and Sydnie B. did an awesome job on the boards with 7 each. Brittany Reece and Rebekah Tolley completed the domination of that aspect of the game. Cloudland's scoring was well-balanced, with everyone playing, and all but one scoring. I, and others, were very impressed with the newcomers to the Varsity team, Brittany Reece and Amber Clawson. Brittany has just fit right in with the team, and looks more at home in the middle every time I watch her. She had 4 points and several rebounds, and even caused a couple of turnovers. Amber impressed with her time at point. She didn't show any timidity playing with the "big dogs" for the first time and pumped in an additional 6 from just inside the 3-point line. Another big plus for the Lady's was the charity stripe performance, they only missed one all night. Defensively, it was more of the same until the final quarter, when the changing lineups allowed East to score 17. By quarter it was: 1st Quarter: 13-8 2nd Quarter: 29-15 3rd Quarter: 50-23 Final Score: 60-40 I wasn't able to get to the gym in time to see the JV games, but I understand we lost, but played well. Let's Go Lady 'Landers !! The Highlander

PT, Pretty good poll overall. I'd like to supply the one name you are missing from the Cloudland starting lineup, Jordi Miller #23. She is the stealth bomber on the team. If you've seen them play, you may have confused she and Sydnie Buchanan #21 on the floor. They are virtually twins. Getting tired of pointing that out to refs on average of once a game! This teams strength is that the Juniors (Buchanan, Hughes, Johnson, McKinney, Miller) have played together since third grade, they are best friends off the court, and are all exceptional students as well. They also have gotten tournament experience every year since Freshman. The Highlander

Dang, I'm glad it is finally basketball season! Been having withdrawals for a while now. I haven't seen all of the area teams yet, wouldn't even guess at predictions, but I will say we are going to see some good games in the region this year. Can't wait for them to put on the game uniforms and fire it up! The Highlander

Well, I think someone said the 'Landers first game is on the 16th, so I would expect Coach Birchfield might go around next Monday or Tuesday and ask a few girls if they would like to play. He should be able to find six or seven girls that are interested. Then they can do conditioning on Wednesday, work on a couple of plays on Thursday. That will get them ready to play by Friday...don't you think? The Highlander

What a game !!! Big plays offensively on both sides of the ball. I agree with whomever said it was sad one team had to lose. At times, it looked like either team could have a blowout, then the other guys would come roaring back. I think the Highlander defense looked a little better in the second half, they had several stops for losses for instance. However we need to play the whole game instead of just parts of it. That being said, Grace can be credited for making us look a little rough. And congratulations to Jordan Hughes on adding to his years totals. And just think, he had one called back on a questionable block in the back call. Probably one more, had the Grace defender not made a tremendous play and punched the ball out of Johnson's hands. Tipton had another LOOONG run also. But guys, some of us "older" gentlemen are going to have heart attacks and nervous breakdowns if you don't stop the last minute antics! Remember my basketball motto, "If we aren't up by 30, I'm not happy." The Highlander