CLOUDLAND LADY HIGHLANDERS

[zAZa90]

King,

Sydnie B. played one of the best games of her career in scoring only. She ALWAYS has a ton of rebounds and plays fantastic defense! I'd love to see her score like that in every game. She is certainly capable.

 

One of the neat things this season is the number of players we have had lead the scoring. Jordi has several times, and she and Syd tied for the lead at Unicoi. BJ led early in the season (sometimes by a bunch), and Bekah led with 22 against Chuckey-Doak. Most of the games haven't had a standout, they have had balanced scoring, which is really neat to watch.

 

Bekah was indeed held scoreless in the game. She had a little defensive sagging keeping her from getting good looks at the ball. She played a big roll in getting the guards open though, she sets one massive screen, that is for sure. Absolutely floored (literally) one girl.

 

The Highlander

 

Highlander, another player I'm impressed with is Brooke Hughes. I watched her against Chuckey Doak and she is way underrated. She can be as good as anyone on the floor and I couldn't help but notice her lack of intimidation while she was out there. I look for her to bring an emotional spark to the Lady Highlanders. Could play a key role on down the road.

[The Highlander]

Highlander, another player I'm impressed with is Brooke Hughes. I watched her against Chuckey Doak and she is way underrated. She can be as good as anyone on the floor and I couldn't help but notice her lack of intimidation while she was out there. I look for her to bring an emotional spark to the Lady Highlanders. Could play a key role on down the road.

 

 

 

King,

You are very perceptive! I could not agree with you more. Brooke is part of the group who has played together since 3rd grade. Sydnie, Shellie, BJ, Jordi, Danielle Potter, and Brooke Hughes have all been the on the same team since third grade, not only that, they are all the best of friends, which can only help their chemistry.

 

Thanks for your continued support! Merry Christmas to you and your family.

 

The Highlander

[#1landerfan]

I was told Mitchell has over 700 kids, in Tennessee that would be a AAA school I believe. Cloudland actually has 320 kids...in SIX GRADES! The school is actually grades seven through twelve. So Mitchell has approximately 3-4 times the size of Cloudland. That is far from being a "small school" in Tennessee.

 

Not taking anything at all away from Mitchell County, they are a very good ball team, that has a lot of talent, and is well-coached. Of course, they had to come to Carter County to get such a good coach!

 

The Highlander

 

The following enrollment was reported to the T$$AA in Jan 06. Grades 9-12 only

 

Cloudland 218

Unaka 348

Hampton 443

Happy Valley 576

Johnson Co 683

Elizabethton 774

[zAZa90]

King,

You are very perceptive! I could not agree with you more. Brooke is part of the group who has played together since 3rd grade. Sydnie, Shellie, BJ, Jordi, Danielle Potter, and Brooke Hughes have all been the on the same team since third grade, not only that, they are all the best of friends, which can only help their chemistry.

 

Thanks for your continued support! Merry Christmas to you and your family.

 

The Highlander

 

All the parents of these girls should be proud. They show tremendous class and are mature beyond their years. I remember seeing them play when they were cadets and I knew this would be the group who would make a run for the state later on because they have a lot of chemistry and very unselfish. In fact, these girls have two years to make a run for the state. Little sis will join big sis next year and so will another presence in the post, Renee Proffit. I look for these players to contribute right off the bat. Merry Christmas from your neighbor, Highlander! /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

 

Hey Highlander, did the wind storm leave your yard a mess the other night? I'm going to be picking up tree limbs forever. I had to walk 100 yards to find my trash can and some dummy who lives across the creek behind me was trying to burn brush. I think he is from Florida, because he only comes in a few times a year. I thought about being a good neighbor and instructing him that burning brush during a wind storm would put everyone on Burbank in danger. /thumb[1].gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":thumb:" border="0" alt="thumb[1].gif" />

[The Highlander]

Yep, the windstorm left me a few trees to burn. At least it didn't tear anything up. I believe the "gentleman" you are speaking about actually lives in Charlotte, if it is behind you and across the creek. If you want to meet them, go out in the creek and throw a few rocks around, they will come down to introduce themselves. No, I'm not kidding.

 

Well, time to start eating for Christmas! I'm going to get off here and enjoy my family now. I can hear them starting to wake up.

 

The Highlander

[coachh17]

There is little doubt that this is a special group at Cloudland. I remember being very impressed with Mckinney and Johnson at our Lady Cyclone Camp when they were in eighth grade. I told Coach Wilson that they would have a great chance to take Cloudland to Murfreesboro and it looks like they can do it this year and next. I try to keep up with the entire state and this is a tough year in Single A. Jackson County looks unbeatable so far and Clarkrange is also very tough. Cloudland could make some noise this year, but next season may be an even better chance to bring a Gold Ball back to Carter County.

[zAZa90]

Yep, the windstorm left me a few trees to burn. At least it didn't tear anything up. I believe the "gentleman" you are speaking about actually lives in Charlotte, if it is behind you and across the creek. If you want to meet them, go out in the creek and throw a few rocks around, they will come down to introduce themselves. No, I'm not kidding.

 

Well, time to start eating for Christmas! I'm going to get off here and enjoy my family now. I can hear them starting to wake up.

 

The Highlander

 

Hope you are having a great Christmas. I am so far. I don't know the people who live behind me, but if they be nice neighbors, then I will do anything to help them. If they want to play the butthole game, then like everyone on here knows, I can play that game better than anybody. /roflol.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":roflol:" border="0" alt="roflol.gif" />

 

Coach17, I was wondering where you've been hiding. I look for the Cyclones to get back on track and win the Region. Should make for some great basketball after Christmas.

[The Highlander]

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE: Cloudland 51, Kingston 27

 

Sorry, I don't have the exact scores by quarter tonight. Too busy watching to try to take notes. But I do recall the 'Landers jumping to an early lead of about 13-1. I believe the first ended about 17-8. The halftime score was 30-14. I think the end of the third saw 37-19, and of course I got the final. I may be off a point or two, but I'm probably close.

 

The game opened with Jordi Miller driving into the lane and draining a jumper from about the foul line. Our next possession she pulled up and drained a LOOOOONG three. Score: Kingston 0, Jordi 5.

 

From there Cloudland had a plethora of weapons just causing turnovers, picking up loose balls, wreaking general havoc with Kingston, and then off to the races for Cloudland buckets. I didn't keep up with the damage we did from behind the arc, but J led us with 3, BJ Johnson, Brooke Hughes, and Sydnie Buchanan also added threes of there own. Kingston didn't know who to cover, the scoring was pretty well balanced by my very unofficial count. I'll watch the tape and come up with details.

 

BJ played an exemplary game at point, scoring and dishing to whichever weapon was open. The inside play wasn't bad, although we did miss a few block shots. We had a few turnovers, but nothing to complain too much about, although I'm sure Coach Birchfield will!

 

Overall, a good win against a team we've never seen before.

 

The Highlander

[The Highlander]

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE, UPDATE:

 

Okay, I went back and watched tape of the game, so I have a little more detail to add.

 

I do need to correct something I said in the previous post. I mentioned it was Jordi 5, Kingston 0 early in the game. That was incorrect, Kingston hit a free throw. So, 44 seconds into the game it was Jordi 5, Kingston 1. Sorry about that.

 

As I mentioned, the scoring was not too badly balanced for the Highlanders, as follows:

 

Jordi Miller, 13 (high for the game, I believe)

Brooke Johnson, 12

Bekah Tolley, 12

Sydnie Buchanan, 5

Brooke Hughes, 3

Danielle Potter, 2

Shellie McKinney, 2

Brittany Reece, 2

 

Note that we hit seven three-pointers in the game. J had 3, BJ 2, Sydnie 1, and Brooke H. 1.

 

I didn't count assists, but BJ had a bunch of them. A pretty high percentage of our scores were assisted actually. Ball movement was excellent for the game, both in transition and in half-court sets. I can't say enough about our teams mental focus. They were patient, working the ball around, but the instant there was an opening, the ball was fired to that player. Beautiful!

 

Defensively, we had quite a few steals and forced several turnovers. I don't think we had 10 turnovers in the game ourselves, so a nice ratio there. Rebounding was another bright spot. Sydnie B. led the team with seven, BJ was right behind with six, and Shellie had five. Jordi and Bekah added three apiece, and Brooke H. and Danielle had a couple apiece.

 

Kingston has some pretty good athletes. They hit several threes, although I wouldn't consider their form to be picture perfect, the shots went in! They also had a couple of nice possessions with good ball movement resulting in scores. They just didn't handle the high-speed, pressure play of the Highlanders.

 

Next up is Rockwood Friday afternoon at 4:00 pm.

 

The Highlander

[foreveranole]

What time do we play 2morrow and who is it ?

[The Highlander]

'Nole,

I bet I'm a little too late with my answer, but on Saturday we play Harriman at 10:00 am. Hope you can make it.

 

The Highlander

[The Highlander]

LADY 'LANDER UPDATE: Cloudland 40, Rockwood 20

 

Well, this was one of those "Ugly Wins" everyone talks about. Really, it wasn't particularly ugly, we just had an off shooting night. The other aspects of our game were not too bad at all.

 

Rockwood was a quicker team than Kingston, and they appeared to have had a better scouting report on us. It didn't really help, but they did seem to have a little better idea of how to match up. However, while Kingston had 3 six-footers to help out, Rockwood lacked that height. And there speed and stamina still were not up to Cloudland's.

 

We need to welcome Shellie McKinney back. She played a little more freely last night, and was just shy of a double-double with nine points and nine rebounds by my unofficial count. That made her our leading scorer on the evening. Great job Shellie.

 

By quarter, the scoring was like this:

 

1st Cloudland 10, Rockwood 4

2nd Cloudland 12, Rockwood 2

3rd Cloudland 9, Rockwood 7

4th Cloudland 9, Rockwood 7

 

Holding any team to only 14 points in a half is good, holding them to only 6 is even better. Our defense turned up 10 steals on the evening, and we had only 6 turnovers for the game. I think that is about what we had against Kingston also, so we are taking care of the ball very well.

 

Rebounding was another strong skill again. As I mentioned Shellie had nine to lead the team, Bekah was right behind with six. By my count, we had 32 rebounds counting both offensive and defensive. We let down a little in the fourth with Matt trying various lineups. Other than that, we controlled the boards.

 

BJ had another good outing, with eight points and six boards before she left the game about half way through the third. BJ had picked up a personal foul at mid court, and after the call, she leaned down and slapped the floor with both hands. To anyone that knows her, she was just frustrated and a little angry with herself. But, the ref took it as an indictment of his calling and gave her the T that fouled her out. Oh well.

 

Here is the scoring recap for the game:

 

Shellie McKinney, 9

BJ Johnson, 8

Bekah Tolley, 7

Jordi Miller, 6

Sydnie Buchanan, 4

Amber Clawson, 4

Danielle Potter, 2

 

Today at 10:00, we play the tourney host, Harriman. I'll post the update after we get home later today. And congratulations to the Landers, they came from behind to beat a pretty good Rockwood team. Special note to Randall Johnson who poured in 29 points to lead the team back. Several very pretty threes, and a couple of circus shots included in his display yesterday. Great game Randall!

 

The Highlander