Tri-County Seven by Sports Edit

[The Highlander]

'Lander Update:

 

No surprises in the first game Krich.

 

Landers 49 - North Green 39.

 

Got to admit, not 'Lander ball in the 1st half, NG was up 19-16 at halftime. However they only outscored the 'landers in the second quarter. We put up a 21 point third and a 12 point fourth to put the game away.

 

Great play by their #15, don't know her name, she had 16 by my count, but sat with 4 fouls in part of the fourth.

 

Heather Banner played well, finishing with 14 points and several rebounds.

 

Jess Lunsford was asleep in the first, had one point at the half. She woke up however and finished with 10 points, rebounds, and a blocked shot.

 

Great effort by Jessica Mathies as well, she had 10 points, part of them big foul shots.

 

Santana had two threes, I think that is all she even attempted.

 

Good second half pulled us through.

 

The Highlander

Edited February 22, 2006 by The Highlander

[CycloneFan]

I understand that Unaka beat Hampton in OT tonight to make the District 1A final against the Landers. This would put the Rangers in the opposite bracket of the Landers in the Regional. Good job Unaka.

[krichunaka]

Number 15 is Chelsey Wright; (I think) the best overall athlete in Upper-East Tennessee. Very gracious, also. Her Thirty-One against University High, then the Fifteen, or whatever, against the Lady Highlanders makes her look legit. And, Basketball is probably her third-best sport. Tremendous Softball player; and I'm told, even better at Volleyball. She's Bona-Fide!

 

The Unaka vs Hampton Game was the Best Game I've seen this season, edging out Elizabethton at Unicoi County; Unicoi County at Cloudland and Elizabethton at Happy Valley. Great, non-stop intensity by both teams, in a High-Pressure Game.

 

The Unaka win turns the Regional Brackets upside-down.

 

Megan Johnson is the Headline Story of this one, but a Great Team Effort. Laura Bowman, probably the most modest player in the World, said she had, "Absolutely No Doubt," when Megan went to the Free Throw Line with No Time remaining, Unaka trailing by two. She canned them. A couple minutes into Overtime, Megan hit a Three from the Corner; the only points of the overtime.

 

Final:

Unaka - - - 36

Hampton - - 33

 

A couple statements, by the Lady Rangers, about the Lady Bulldogs.

 

Laura Bowman, about Jessica Price: "She's amazing. When she touches the ball, she can create. I tried to deny her, but when she gets it, she's so quick, and can score in bunches. I love her game."

 

Sallee Taylor, on Johnson and Lacey Oliver: "It was obvious we would have to beat them with Defense; they were doing a great job of stopping us. Lacey is such a talented player, a Scorer, for sure. I think it was a great effort by all of us to be able to contain their perimeter players."

 

Coach Kenneth Chambers, on the Megan Johnson free throws and the Three to win it: "She's as good as any guard around. I just told her, 'It's just like practice, Megan.' She responded in fine fashion." On Sallee Taylor's defense: "Sallee had her best Defensive Effort of the season. We don't win without it."

 

Megan Johnson, on the pressure at the line: "I was of course, trying to stay focused, but I was a little nervous. But this is what we play toward every season. Hampton was tremendous Defensively."

 

Tiffanie Babb: "They did a great job defensively denying the inside game. But we were able to get inside just enough to get a few opportunities to hit from the perimeter."

 

Freshmen Kaleigh Elsea and Kayla Winters were big contributors. Both have now been baptised with the fire of Tournament Play. Sophomore, Emily Asher, like everyone on the Court, and from both teams, was also tremendous Defensively.

 

Emily and Kaleigh each hit threes. Kayla had several rebounds, and a couple nice baskets.

Edited February 24, 2006 by krichunaka

[cucry]

Sorry to say but I don't think Unaka has enough guns to beat Cloudland and there is a mental thing there - has been for years. Probably will still be a good game to watch and the Rangers still get to go to Regionals and could get a sub-state bid.

[wisemapletree]

hmm is all quiet in carter county??? I'm sure krich and the highlander would have some input about friday night's game... Ok I'm gonna out of my ole maple tree limb here and predict a winner............

 

The HIGHLANDERS!!!! I see a BIG game for Lunceford she was alittle quiet during the north green game.... so she should be ready to play....

 

krich.... I think santana will drop a couple of 3's for ya also

 

and well my girl Banner, she'll put on a good show for me....

 

Lets GET IT ON BABY!!!!!!!!!!

[krichunaka]

Tonight was a good game between Unicoi County and Elizabethton. Elizabethton won by seven, after leading the entire game. Unicoi County put a couple tough runs up, only to see Cameron Crapps hit huge baskets, including a thirty-footer at the buzzer to get EHS back up by nine heading into the fourth. That was a Big Basket.

 

To give Unicoi County credit, the game was at 41 - 38 with sixteen seconds (CycloneFan, correct time?) remaining. Alicia Engle was at the free throw line for a one-plus-one. She missed the front end. Elizabethton got the long rebound: Michaela threw to Victoria, to Cameron for a layup. Then another Unicoi County miss, a foul, and Cameron hit two free throws to put the final margin back to a somewhat deceptive margin of Seven.

 

And as advertised, Elizabethton has a considerable size and depth advantage at post. Alicia Mainer sat on the bench most of the second quarter with two fouls. Mainer had a very good second half, and a tremendous fourth quarter, which included a few steals, one of which was converted into a three-point play.

 

All Tournament team included three each from the Lady Blue Devils and Lady Cyclones: Cameron, Michaela (MVP) and Victoria Hopson for Elizabethton; Payge Barnett, Alicia Engle and Alisha Mainer for Unicoi County; Keila Williams (played with fever, sickness tonight, commendable performance) and Sam Cantor for Happy Valley; Soutn Greene with Lilly and Crum.

[GLee]

Eliz played a great game, but if the Devils would have gotten #22 some good open looks, there would have been trouble in Cyclone land. Very nice play by #22 to get the 15-16 points that she had, but with some better screens she would have gotten the open looks she needed eventhough she made some tough ones anyway. Mainer played her usual game but got some cheap fouls which more resemble #53 of Betsy. Big Pet did a good job of staying 'clean' and, for the most part, controlling the paint.

 

As usual, Eliz's big three stepped up.....Hopson, Big Pet & Crapps. Those three along with a tremendous supporting cast are just too much at this time of the year. They stumble on occasions, but always seem to correct the 'ship' at the right time. Great job against a quality team.

 

For both teams..........it is only going to get tougher. STEP UP!!!

[The Highlander]

Sorry about being so quiet lately, got a lot going on.

 

I'm not going to make any predictions about tonights game between Cloudland and Unaka, that way I can't be wrong! Actually, I will make a prediction, it should be a very entertaining game.

 

Two well-coached teams meeting up tonight, it will be hard to not have a good game on a neutral court.

 

See you there!

 

The Highlander

[CycloneFan]

Krich:

Mainer did play well, but was outplayed by Michaela.

The proof is in the pudding:

 

Mainer:

7 points, 3 steals, 6 rebounds.

Pietrowski:

17 points, 5 steals, 12 rebounds.

[krichunaka]

GLee, Very good observations; wish I could've put it so well.

 

You mentioned #22, Payge Barnett, Sophomore guard for the Lady Blue Devils. I can think of no one better, especially from the class of 2008, of which there are so many promising players: Payge's teammate, Alisha Mainer, Unaka's Emily Asher, Jasmine Treadway and Hannah Fritz of Elizabethton, to name a few.

 

But Payge is in a select class, because of her ability to Create from outside, and the way she Elevates to shoot closer to the basket. For crying-out-loud, she shoots Jumpshots from twenty-five feet-plus!

 

But what can we say about Cameron? She just seems to feel the game. She hit a couple buckets last night when it looked like Unicoi County might catch up and leave the Lady Cyclones standing. The thirty-footer at the buzzer was possibly The Biggest basket of the night.

[CycloneFan]

Coach Weems and his staff have these kids playing great team ball. Cameron has been a great leader on the court and has really grown into the point guard role very well. This is a very unselfish team. They don't care who scores; they just want to win. And they know how to win.

 

Krich, I think Barnett has the prettiest jump shot this side of Puelo of William Blount (who recently committed to UGA as a junior).

[krichunaka]

Fan, I'm struck by your comments, to the point that I re-read my own remarks.

 

As to Alisha vs Michaela: I ask Coach Weems to comment on Mainer's play. His reply was that Michaela was "twice as good." I responded that that wasn't really my question, to which he replied that Michaela had "dominated Mainer all three games this season."

 

On that particular point, I certainly disagree (but not to his face ), simply because at Unicoi County, Michaela, like Alisha last night, sat a lot in foul trouble.

 

In Erwin, Michaela was more of a factor by her absense. Mainer was very good that night, but appeared exhausted, which leads to the obvious advantage in numbers the Lady Cyclones hold over the Lady Blue Devils.

 

GLee pointed out that Alisha got a couple cheap fouls, and it appeared to hurt Unicoi County. I agree; but I don't see how that takes anything away from Michaela. In fact, I told Michaela that I felt that she played her best game since Arch-Bishop Carroll, which, I think was of Division-One Quality.

 

Michaela's two MVPs (so far) this season, pretty much speak for themselves.

 

However, I did see some very good individual performances last night: Kayla Hill and Marti Bush immediately come to mind; Victoria and Lynz Canady (who played very steadily at point guard, and hit two high-pressure free throws) also responded. And others.

 

Alisha did some amazing things: Several steals, rebounds, etc.; she even brought the ball up-court against the press and once on a fast break. Again, none of this should be seen as point-deductions from Michaela.

 

Now, if I had made comparative assertions like M P is three inches taller than A M, or words to that affect, then I might better-understand the sensitivity.