Tri-County Seven - Week of 26 November, 2007

[krichunaka]

1) Unicoi County

2) Elizabethton

3) Cloudland

4) Unaka

5) Hampton

6) Happy Valley

7) Johnson County

 

Key players from last week's games:

Elizabethton:

Mariah Pietrowski looks amazing, considering recent knee surgery.

Hannah Fritz was all-around good in comeback win over Morristown West.

Jasmine Jefferson - Rebound Clinic against Lady Trojans.

 

Unaka:

Brittany Scott

 

Cloudland:

Brooke Johnson

Jordan Miller

Sydnie Buchanan

 

Happy Valley:

Summer Ward

Courtney Byers

 

 

Promising Newcomers:

Brittany Reece - Cloudland

Amber Clawson - Cloudland

 

Kristen Powell - Elizabethton

Chelsea Bowling - Elizabethton

 

Kara Bowling - Happy Valley

 

Tayler Byars - Unaka

Chesney Cox - Unaka

Taylor Nidiffer - Unaka

 

*Several other promising Freshmen/Newcomers throughout the area we're watching.

 

Unicoi County eighteen-point loss to Oak Ridge is a concern, but the Lady Wildcats

also defeated Science Hill by twenty-nine points. The Lady Blue Devils bounced back

to win over Rockwood's Lady Tigers by twenty-seven. Three, inner-Seven games

this week, beginning Monday night at Unaka.

 

We saw the worst, then the best of Elizabethton in the win over Morristown West.

The Lady Trojans ran through the Lady Cyclones with ease before new head

coach, Len Dugger made the adjustments to slow the assault.

 

Cloudland has a terrific starting five, however depth is an early concern. The Lady

Highlanders looked very good for three-plus quarters of their win over Daniel Boone,

and defeated Happy Valley by sixteen. They appeared to have Morristown West put

away early, but too many mistakes to close the deal. Tuesday's game in Erwin will

be a huge challenge.

 

Unaka played well against Chuckey Doak, but not very impressively two days later against

South Greene. No excuses for the bad performance against South Greene,

however the Lady Rebels make many-a-team look sub-par. Unaka is struggling as the

freshmen and new players build chemestry. In spite of losing two of three in Baileyton,

Kenneth Chambers' confidence is high.

 

We've seen less of Hampton than any of the other six, Seven teams. That changes in a big

way Tuesday night when the Lady Cyclones visit Hampton.

 

Happy Valley had a gutty performance to hold off the Lady Junior Bucs Wednesday in the

Thanksgiving Classic, before losing the game to Cloudland on Friday. A young team with a

deep bench.

 

Johnson County got beat by sixteen against North Greene, and plastered by Cherokee. A

home game Thursday against Unaka will give a clearer indication of what to expect from the

Lady Longhorns.

[coachh17]

1. Elizabethton (Until someone prooves otherwise)

2. Unicoi Co. (Good, but Cloudland game will tell us how good)

3. Cloudland (I'm not sold on depth or post play)

4. Hampton (A bit mysterious)

5. Happy Valley (Playing for fourth place in 1 AA)

6. Unaka (Youth takes time)

7. Johnson County (maybe someday)

[ballobserver]

The Lady Warriors played Crockett last night, it was an ugly game...but the Warriors hung on to win by 1. Crockett played stall the last few minutes of each quarter and it was nip and tuck the whole game with the Pioneers doing all they could to shut down the Warriors' outside game. Their inside game and a few outside shots kept them in it. Down by three late in the 4th Byers hit a three to tie it up. The game came down to the end tied up and a Pioneer was brought to the foul line, she made the first one and a lane violation was called on the second giving the Warriors the ball with like 13 seconds on the clock....a beautiful play from Banks to Ward for a lay up to put the Warriors up by one without giving the Pioneers enough time to score.

[krichunaka]

Unicoi County went to Unaka and won by sixteen.

Unaka led 11-9 after one.

Unicoi scored 12 in the second to lead 21-16 at halftime.

The Lady Blue Devils put 21 on Unaka in the third - - 42-22.

Nine-to-five, Unaka in the fourth - - Final 47-31.

 

Unicoi County is very good defensively with three six-foot-plus

post players in rotation, led by Alisha Mainer. Mainer had 14;

Payge Barnette scored 11 and Amanda Vanhoy had nine.

Kara Lynch had four; Lauren Trivette and Candace Meadows

each scored two; Ali Gardner scored only one, but played a very

solid game.

 

Brittany Scott continues to be Unaka's primary offense. She led

all scorers with nineteen. However, the freshmen are playing well.

Unaka is a very quick defensive team. Offensively, they're working

well, simply needing to hit a few perimeter shots.

 

Cloudland at Unicoi County should be a very good game, but without

Shellie McKinney, the Lady Highlanders could struggle under the basket.

Those Lady Blue Devil post players are big, and good. If Cloudland

hits perimeter shots, it's anybody's game. Likewise, if Payge Barnette

is on, she balances the outside scoring.

 

Hampton will be tested by Pietrowski, otherwise, the Lady Bulldogs match

up pretty well with Elizabethton. We just haven't seen enough of Hampton

to make an educated guess.

[krichunaka]

Congratulations to the Lady Highlanders for their tremendous fourth quarter

comeback win in Erwin.

 

Congratulations to the Lady Cyclones for their great second half effort in

putting the Lady Bulldogs away.

[coachh17]

Hampton matched up with Elizabethton for a half, but the Lady Cyclones pounded the Lady Dogs in the second half on the inside. The Lady Dogs had no answer for Pietrowski and Jefferson. With Cloudland's win over Unicoi Co., I will move Cloudland in to the two slot behind Elizabethton. Unicoi Co. is 2-3 in the early going and I believe they are missing Engle. They may have size, but somebody besides Barnett and Mainer has to score. Go Cyclones!!!!!!!!

[krichunaka]

Hampton matched up with Elizabethton for a half, but the Lady Cyclones pounded the Lady Dogs in the second half on the inside. The Lady Dogs had no answer for Pietrowski and Jefferson. With Cloudland's win over Unicoi Co., I will move Cloudland in to the two slot behind Elizabethton. Unicoi Co. is 2-3 in the early going and I believe they are missing Engle. They may have size, but somebody besides Barnett and Mainer has to score. Go Cyclones!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

. . . .And, there's something to be said about Len Dugger. Coachh17, you're (almost) old enough to remember the Don Devoe days: It would often appear that he had no Pre-game plan, but the second half was a different story. Morristown West had Elizabethton's number, until after the half-time adjustments; a different team, a higher intensity for the second half.

 

Next week's poll?

 

This is Wednesday!

[coachh17]

I remember the DeVoe days well. I talked to Len yesterday and told him Hampton could get hot from the outside and was dangerous in their gym and with their crowd. Being a Hampton graduate, it was nothing he didn't already know. He is an outstanding coach who is learning his personnel on the fly. They will get better and better as he gets his playbook in and learns his best match-ups and on floor combinations. I talked to Mikki Oliver after the game and learned she was playing with a virus. She looked pretty pale. Mariah Pietrowski told me her knee is sometimes a little sore, but that has been no swelling and she expects a full recovery. I believe Elizabethton, Cloudland, and Unicoi Co. are clearly our top three right now, but I will wait until next week's poll.

[krichunaka]

Elizabethton's second half guard play especially defensively, during

the second half charge, was very assertive. Jones, Culler, and Treadway,

at times were taking turn-abouts stealing the ball out front, a key to

the win. Kristen Powell's steal and layup was timely; and her three-ball

was yet another huge contribution from the promising freshman.

 

Hannah Fritz continues to do a good job, all-around (though I'd like to

see her take a few more shots). And, Jasmine Jefferson also played well.

She's awfully good at positioning beneath the basket.

 

Mikki was obviously struggling, but she's a gamer, and I fully expect her

to play her best ball in-conference.

 

Coach Tolley has a lot of players who can throw it in from long-distance;

but he had no one (not many teams will) to match up with Mariah.

 

I also agree, for now, about the top three; but trust me, there will be some

awfully good games in Carter County before that issue is settled.

 

And is it just me, or does Len Dugger seem to be enjoying coaching on the

Ladies' side?

[zAZa90]

Hampton matched up with Elizabethton for a half, but the Lady Cyclones pounded the Lady Dogs in the second half on the inside. The Lady Dogs had no answer for Pietrowski and Jefferson. With Cloudland's win over Unicoi Co., I will move Cloudland in to the two slot behind Elizabethton. Unicoi Co. is 2-3 in the early going and I believe they are missing Engle. They may have size, but somebody besides Barnett and Mainer has to score. Go Cyclones!!!!!!!!

 

I will move Cloudland into the number one slot ahead of Elizzybethon! The Higher Powers from above would have to come down and help the other county teams to have a chance to beat the Landers. /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

[GLee]

GO CYCLONES!!

[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