Tri-County Seven

[krichunaka]

Elizabethton was the head of the class on Saturday, and by a huge margin.

Jasmine Jefferson was one of last season's most underrated players. Her play

yesterday, including a beautiful, second half left-handed basket, was college-level.

 

Kamra Fritz and Kristen Powell out-played their more experienced perimeter counterparts

from Cloudand. Powell looked like anything but a first-time starter. Fritz hit timely shots,

crashed the boards, made steals, and generally caused havoc throughout the contest.

 

The one bright spot for the Lady Highlanders (and they were few and far between), Jordan

Miller finally found the range and scored a couple beautiful, fourth quarter threes; but that

was far too little, far too late.

 

Mariah Pietrowski can start to pick and choose where she wants to play college basketball.

She was dominant with the ball, and on defense, where she made the Lady Highlanders

look ill-prepared. But in the second half, she picked up three fouls within a two-minute

time frame. Otherwise, a masterful performance.

 

To be sure, Cloudland and Hampton will bounce back, and soon. And although, both the

Lady Bulldogs and Lady Highlanders played on Friday, neither Leon Tolley or Matt Birchfield

suggested that fatigue was a factor.

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Unaka's performance against the very young, very inexperienced Lady Trailblazers was,

to say the least, disappointing. We knew Brittany Scott would be missed. Her graduation, the

injury to Taylor Byars, and the ill-timed coaching change are well-documented. But the overtime

loss to Daniel Boone left much to be desired. The upcoming three-game weekend offers the

opportunity to improve greatly.

 

On the bright side, senior wing Kaleigh Elsea hit four, fourth quarter threes to give Unaka some

hope for victory, and Kayla Winters had a good overall game. And to be fair, senior Chelsea

Anderson missed almost all of last season, and Rachel Lowe hasn't played since the summer of her

sophomore year. Both can play key roles this season. Junior Danielle Jones was starting her first

game, and Kayla Wilson had several good minutes. Natalie Johson was much more aggressive on

the offensive end, but played with foul trouble.

 

Hopefully, Tayler Nidiffer and Chensie Cox will see more playing time, providing Coach Wes Wright

the depth and talent he'll need to have a successful first season.

 

A long way to go, for everybody, but at least for now, the Lady Cyclones were the superior team we

saw Saturday.

[zAZa90]

I saw the Lady Highlanders play East Friday and I knew they would have a tough time hanging against Elizabethton. Cloudland looks like they have carried over the same problems from last year. Missed easy shots, not boxing out, and struggling from 3 point land. With no inside presence, you can't afford to be bad anywhere else. Giving Elizabethton credit, they are indeed a team to be reckoned with this year.

[toughnut]

Would someone please post the brackets to the Happy Valley tourney?

[hayseed]

Unaka's new coach is not using his tools to their full potential. An inexperienced coach, new system and a few other distractions will make it very hard for the Lady Rangers this year. Not using his inside game like they should. When you can't get the ball up the floor and depend on the 3 too much, things just will be very hard this season. Which is sad for the seniors. Sorry to hear about Taylor's injury, sounds like a career ending one (maybe) depends on a few factors. Best of Luck to the Lady Rangers.

[hayseed]

Valley Forge Auction Schedule - A few of the games anyways

 

Wed

Unaka vs David Crockett 1:00

Unicoi Cty vs Volunteer 2:30

Sullivan East vs Happy Valley 4:00

Morristown West vs Cloudland 5:30

Elizabethton vs Sullivan Central 7:00

Johnson County vs TN High 8:30

 

Highlight Games on Friday

Elizabethton vs Daniel Boone 7:00

Cloudland vs David Crockett 8:30

 

Highlight Games on Sat.

Daniel Boone vs Unicoi Cty 4:00

Happy Valley vs Cloundland 7:00

[bucdaddio]

Valley Forge Auction Schedule - A few of the games anyways

 

 

 

Highlight Games on Friday

Elizabethton vs Daniel Boone 7:00

Cloudland vs David Crockett 8:30

 

krich, hope to see you there Friday. Didn't make it to the games at Boone. Did Boone play that good or Unaka that bad? I trust your assessment.

[krichunaka]

bucdaddio, Happy Thanksgiving to you and the family! Hope to see you Friday.

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It's difficult to give the Lady Traiblazers their due... without tearing down my beloved Lady Rangers.

And it's very early - - - lots of time for vast improvement.

 

However, Saturday's performance, and especially defensively, left much to be desired.

 

The early part of the game saw Daniel Boone shoot and hit several uncontested, long-range threes.

I don't yet have complete rosters for many teams, so I won't be able, for awhile, to give due credit

to the individual players. For instance, number "34" had a very good shooting night. But most disappointing

was the dribble-drives by a younger, less-talented Daniel Boone team. And again, to take nothing from Daniel

Boone - - - the Lady 'Blazers played very-inspired basketball. And as you know they're very-well coached;

just a great effort by Daniel Boone.

 

Unaka can, and probably will get much better. But this is a veteran, highly-talented team, with an all-state level, college prospect post player (Kayla Winters), a terrific marksman (Kaleigh Elsea), who kept the Lady Rangers in the game with those fourth quarter bombs; a three-year starter at point guard; three returning sophomore letterman(Chesnie Cox, Kayla Wilson, Tayler Nidiffer); and a vastly improved junior (Danielle Jones).

 

The loss of Tayler Byars cannot be over-stated, and we've already discussed the other factors. And, of course, the

coaching change will require time to take effect.

 

There are bright spots: Yesterday, Natalie Johnson played a tremendous offensive game (seventeen points), and

Winters made several all-star plays. Senior post player, Rachel Lowe is constantly improving. And, there is no lack of effort; consistency is the major, missing ingredient.

 

The biggest concern (though thankfully, very correctable) is Unaka's defense. Even with all the quality offensive players of recent years, Unaka's greatest strength has been defense. For instance, last season, Unaka held Cloudland to 29 points at Unaka, and in the mid-thirties in Roan Moutain. To date, the Lady Rangers are giving up over fifty points per game.

Victories will be few-and-far-between with those numbers. In the Saturday's game, the Lady Rangers failed to check the ball, box out, and rebound. Fundamental stuff. And all this against a freshman/sophomore Daniel Boone team.

 

Still time to improve, but defense is a lot about relentless effort, a Unaka trademark in recent years.

[coachh17]

Happy Valley beat East by about nine. Unicoi Co. beat Volunteer. Morristown West wore Cloudland down for about a fifteen point win and Sullivan Central beat Elizabethton at the buzzer by two, 61-59. I have to say Central looks good. They hit lots of threes, executed well, and kept Mariah Pietrowski in foul trouble for much of the contest. Blizzard and Moody are very good.

[coachh17]

They were down about 20-10 when I left in the first quarter. They showed a little spark, but I would think Tennessee High beat them pretty badly.

[toughnut]

How come MWest is only playing two games in the Happy Valley tourney? Was it our decision or was it the other team's decision? Two games isn't worth going to. How come we didn't get Elizabethan or Tennesse High?

/mad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":angry:" border="0" alt="mad.gif" /> /mad.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":angry:" border="0" alt="mad.gif" />

[bucdaddio]

krich, didn't see you last night, but did see some good basketball.

 

Betsy beat Boone by a wide margin, which I expected, but Boone didn't look quite as bad as I feared.

 

Cloudland was outplaying a decent Crockett team when I left. Crockett looked like they were maybe trying to force things. Especially inside, and was really wanting to see Murr go off, like she did the last 3 games, but didn't happen before I left. Cloudland looked pretty smooth and relaxed, and were taking care of business.

[coachh17]

Krich,

Let's get the new rankings going. We have seen enough to make some major changes.