I-MAC

[barb]

Greeneville over Morristown West 31-29. West gave Greeneville all they could handle. They had a great defensive game plan despite having their 2 senior posts and starting point guard on the bench in street clothes due to injuries. The young kids stepped up and Jones, Cross, and Thayer played their hearts out. As in last year's district and region finals Galyon certainly outcoached the Greeneville coach. Greeneville is loaded with talent. If this continues West will win some games down the stretch.

West played a nice game of keep-away and took some good shots. Greeneville showed some rust after the week off with TO"s and missed shots. West could have won this one if they had taken the last second shot instead of driving to the basket. One mental error cost them this one.

Edited January 6, 2007 by barb

[runfast]

West played a nice game of keep-away and took some good shots. Greeneville showed some rust after the week off with TO"s and missed shots. West could have won this one if they had taken the last second shot instead of driving to the basket. One mental error cost them this one.

 

I agree, looking back, West could have done a few things different at the end but the little guard that had the ball at the end is a freshman that probably doesn't have 5 min. of varsity time for the whole year. Hats off to West for a great game. Hopefully this is a turnaround game for them. They sure need it!

[greenevillefan]

Greeneville over Morristown West 31-29. West gave Greeneville all they could handle. They had a great defensive game plan despite having their 2 senior posts and starting point guard on the bench in street clothes due to injuries. The young kids stepped up and Jones, Cross, and Thayer played their hearts out. As in last year's district and region finals Galyon certainly outcoached the Greeneville coach. Greeneville is loaded with talent. If this continues West will win some games down the stretch.

Everyone keeps saying greeneville is loaded with talent. I would like to know where the talent is? They have Nicole Dickson Ashley Deans. The rest are just role players. I was at the game last night and it was extremely ugly. I would say that West has more talent at the Guard positions than greeneville. West has three or four that can shoot the three. West had three players that played a whole lot last year start. (#10, #30, #21) So I would not say that they were really young except for the point guards. The freshman point guard did a good job of controlling west's offense. I wouldn't say that Galyon outcoached Crumbley either. Usually the team that gets outcoached wins. Galyon did have a good defensive game plan. I think every time these two teams it is going to be a close one. Greeneville needs to make some adjustments and hope their guards can knock down some shots. All they are going to get is some sagging zone defense. Congratulations West on playing hard.

[utvols1]

I was impressed with the play of morristown west last nite. I didnt think that they would be able to play with Greeneville. Morristown West looked like a completely different team than the one that South Greene handily defeated in the Ladies Classic....

[PTSportsWriter]

Depew leads Lady Red to stunning win over Lady Canes;

 

By SETH BUTLER

NPT Sports Writer

 

NEWPORT-Shannon Depew hates to lose.

 

The ever-competitive Cocke County High School Lady Red freshman did not allow her team to lose on Friday night in Inter Mountain Athletic Conference action against Morristown East.

 

Faced with a 16-point deficit late in the third quarter, Depew put her team on her back and led the Lady Red (10-6, 2-2) to the win. Depew scored 28 points on the night and 20 in the second half to give her team the 48-46 victory over the Lady 'Canes (8-6, 1-2).

 

In the nightcap of the doubleheader the Fighting Cocks (4-11, 0-4) dropped to 0-4 in the conference by dropping a 54-50 decision to the Hurricanes (6-7, 1-3).

 

Lady Red comeback stuns Lady Canes

 

The Lady Hurricanes had this one all wrapped up and packaged neatly, poised to grab sole possession of third place in the IMAC.

 

That nice, neat package was torn into by Cocke County's Shannon Depew.

 

Trailing by 16 with three minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Lady Red had been scoreless since a Depew jumper at the 2:35 mark of the second quarter. The 5-foot-10 Cocke County freshman added the next Cocke County points at the 2:47 mark of the third quarter.

 

From then on it was Depew's game as she carried the Lady Red to the 48-46 win and sole possession of third place in the IMAC.

 

Depew scored 18 points from the 2:47 mark until the final buzzer as she dominated the final 10 minutes of the game. Depew could not miss a shot down the stretch and if the Lady Canes had her guarded she cleaned the offensive glass effectively.

 

Depew accounted for all but nine of her team's second half points. The freshman made her mark with a 50-percent shooting night from the field and connecting on 16-of-18 free throws.

 

But don't tell Depew she was the sole reason for the win. Despite her early success at the prep level, the freshman remains humble. "We just played as a team tonight," Depew said following the win. "We believed in each other and never gave up."

 

"Shannon's a special young lady," Cocke County Lady Red head coach Patrick O'Neil said. "She's an excellent kid and if she keeps working hard she's going to be a great basketball player."

 

After trailing since 1:27 remained in the first quarter, Depew evened the game with a pair of free throws with 45.8 seconds remaining.

 

Still though, the comeback needed to reach completion.

 

Following turnovers by each team, Cocke County took possession with 10 seconds remaining at mid-court. With everyone in the gymnasium trying to find the 5-foot-10 freshman wearing number 35, the Lady Hurricanes forgot about Cocke County's other young gun, Morgan Buda.

 

Buda, plagued by drawing two early fouls, finished with 11 points on the night. And none were bigger than the final two.

 

With 10 seconds remaining the inbound went to Buda and with a sea of orange surrounding Depew, the lane opened up allowing Buda the room to drive in as she kissed her scoop shot off the glass and in for the Lady Red lead with four seconds remaining.

 

"I was supposed to get the screen and I was supposed to go the backdoor and get the lay up but they were just kind of all over me," Depew said of the next to last play. "So whoever the ball got to was supposed to get to the hole and Buda did that. Buda's a player," Depew said.

 

"Well since Shannon was shooting really good, they had her covered," Buda said of the set-up of the winning play. "I knew there was an open shot and I knew everyone had the confidence in me because we're a team. And we knew whatever was going to happen we were going to be proud of ourselves and I just saw the lane open up."

 

After a Lady Canes timeout to set up a final shot, Demika Holt's three-point shot drew iron but fell harmlessly to the court setting off a celebration.

 

"It was a special ending for us," O'Neil said. "It was pretty nice and went our way for a change. The girls fought really hard and I'm glad they could win and show that hard work pays off."

 

It took a little extra hard work for the Lady Red after digging a deep hole early on. The 7:48 scoreless stretch literally had Morristown East off and running to the victory without much of a tussle from the home team.

 

Shot after shot refused to fall for Cocke County as key cogs Nikki Bryant, Courtney Lewis, Jerrica Lane and Alex Suggs all but vanished from point production on the night.

 

"I looked at (assistant) coach (David) Whaley and said nothing's falling and he looked at me and said the same," O'Neil said. "We just knew offensively we were struggling big time and we needed to do something defensively.

 

"The girls just started believing in one another in the second half and instead of having their heads down they started picking their heads up and doing something about it and it made a difference for us," O'Neil said.

 

What made the difference was the one odd thing of the evening for Cocke County. Entering the game the Lady Red's free throw shooting was considered their Achilles Heel.

 

"We were shooting sixty-something percent from the line and we're not typically real good free-throw shooting team," O'Neil said. "Tonight the girls just concentrated, put them in the hole and made a difference in the game."

 

Depew's performance of hitting 16 of her free throws enabled the Lady Red to shoot 22-of-28 at the line and allowed the Lady Red to claw their way back into the game. Free throws accounted for 16 of their 29 second half points.

 

Yet it may have been a pair of technical free throws that changed the complexion of the entire contest. Trailing 35-23 with 2:15 to play in the third period, the Lady Canes ripped a steal and had an uncontested easy lay-up awaiting them at the other end. However just before the lay-in occurred, the whistle blew and Morristown East's Ashton Swaggerty had been whistled for a technical foul for a swift kick to the mid-section of Depew.

 

The resulting four-point swing allowed the Lady Red to close the gap at the end of three to 38-32.

 

Cocke County played an even first half with Morristown East, fending off a tenacious Lady 'Canes full-court press before Jessie Owen took over in the final minutes.

 

Morristown East focused on denying Buda the basketball and making the Lady Red go to other options offensively. "What it [the press] did was force us into some things we weren't comfortable in doing, and it made us take some shots that were ill-advised and led to the poor shooting in the second quarter," O'Neil said.

Owen's shooting ability broke the game open at the close of the first half. Owen drained consecutive three-point baskets in the final minute of the half to increase the lead to nine at the half.

 

Cocke County (48): Shannon Depew 28, Morgan Buda 11, Jerrica Lane 3, Kelsey Lloyd 2, Whitney Crum 2, Nikki Bryant 2.

 

Morristown East (46): Jessie Owen 13, Demika Holt 13, Brittany Furches 7, Anna Branner 5, Kayla Orrick 5, Leah Leeper 3.

 

CCHS: 12/42 FG (28.6%), 22/28 FT (78.6%), 2/15 3-PT FG (13.3%), 33 RBS, 21 TO

 

MEHS: 16/53 FG (30.2%), 9/17 FT (52.9%), 3/12 3-PT FG (25%), 29 RBS, 12 TO

[greenevillefan]

What do you expect Jeff County (Potts) to try against Greeneville?

[robpride]

wow way to go lady red!

 

outstanding job girls! looks like some freshman are maturing at a fast pace now!

[barb]

What do you expect Jeff County (Potts) to try against Greeneville?

 

The stall tactic that MoWest used was pretty effective.

[barb]

Greeneville debuted in the AP at #6 today behind Shelbyville, Cleveland, Mt Juliet, Wilson Central, and Riverdale. That seems like purty good company.

[IamKing]

Jeff County stalls even without making an effort to do so.

[PTSportsWriter]

Cocke County beat Knox Carter tonight by 49.

[barb]

Jeff County stalls even without making an effort to do so.

I just hope Greeneville doesn't look ahead to Webb on Saturday and let those pesky Lady Patriots sneak up on them. They always seem out to spoil our party.