Tri-County Seven - - Week of 13 December, 2009

[krichunaka]

1) Unicoi County

2) Elizabethton

3) Hampton

4) Cloudland

5) Unaka

6) Happy Valley

7) Johnson County

 

The Lady Blue Devils lost to a top-notch North Carolina team last Thursday, then bounced back nicely

the following night against Sullivan North. Tuesday evening, Erwin plays at Unaka.

 

Elizabethton destroyed Sullivan East and Happy Valley last week. A Thurdsay night home challenge against Greeneville is one of the possible, four challenges - home against Hampton, and the two regular season games with Unicoi County, are the others - preventing the Lady Cyclones from finishing the regular season undefeated.

 

Hampton is teetering on the edge of three-four after losing by nineteen to Science Hill. Johnson County visits Hampton Tuesday.

 

Cloudland lost by six to Chuckey Doak, then defeated Sullivan South by seven.

 

Unaka got handled by North Greene by 22 last Friday night. Last night's home win over Johnson County is of no consequence for this poll, but might provide some much-needed confidence for Tuesday's home game against Unicoi County.

 

Elizabethton poured it on the Lady Warriors 59-14. Happy Valley also lost by nineteen to Unicoi County. Last night's five-point win over University High might make practice a little more bearable.

 

Johnson County has four more chances to win a game this week. Good Luck Lady Longhorns!

[The Highlander]

Krich,

I haven't seen enough of the Seven teams to comment intelligently this season. Only watched Unaka, Happy Valley, and of course, Cloudland. But, I think you are on the right track,from limited knowledge.

 

I will speak up in defense of the Cloudland loss to Chuckey-Doak though. That was with only one exception in memory, the most un-evenly officiated game I've seen in years. CD shot 28 free throws to Cloudland's 8. And to their credit, they made the most of them. But 23 charity points is hard to overcome. We played 4 periods, plus an OT and Cloudland never made it to the bonus.

 

I have never before seen a player with the ball held in triple-threat position, standing, squared-up, get run over, and be called for an offensive foul. No, she didn't throw an elbow, she didn't even move. Late in a close game, time for CD to commit an intentional foul. Everyone expected it, they still had three or four before we hit the bonus and started shooting. All the ref had to do was get it right, and she didn't.

 

The same lady ref is the one that called the technical foul on Hughes. When Hughes went in for the break-away layup and got hammered, the whistle blew, Cloudland fans cheered, waiting to see if it was an intentional or just a regular foul. Incredibly, no foul called on CD, instead we got a technical on us, and they got two more charity points and the ball back. I've heard three stories on why she called the "T" and none of the three are the same. What I heard her tell the coach, what she told her fellow referee, and what Mr. Sanders printed in the Star, were three different stories. Oh well.

 

No statistics, just a hunch, but I would be willing to bet that at least 50% of the whistles were from her.

 

And since we were the home team, we had to pay them!

 

Oh well, rant mode is now off!

 

The Highlander

[dog4life]

I too agree with your rankings krich but differ about the Lady Dogs. Sure they are not playing very well right now but losing to Elizabethton, Unicoi and Science Hill is nothing to be ashamed of. They have already beaten North Greene by 9 in Greene Co. and I believe that NG was/is the team to beat.

[krichunaka]

I too agree with your rankings krich but differ about the Lady Dogs. Sure they are not playing very well right now but losing to Elizabethton, Unicoi and Science Hill is nothing to be ashamed of. They have already beaten North Greene by 9 in Greene Co. and I believe that NG was/is the team to beat.

 

For what it's worth, I have full confidence that, when all is said and done the Lady Bulldogs will be solidly in third overall, perhaps higher. It's been a tough couple weeks, and Hampton had to face three of their toughest challenges.

 

Consider: Elizabethton defeated Tennessee High by two. Tennessee High then lost to Science Hill by three; so no shame at all in those three losses.

 

Actually, I'm just trying to motivate the Lady Bulldogs for the tournament in Cherryville.

[krichunaka]

And it's a final from The Creek: Unicoi County 76 Unaka 40.

 

Love ya, Lady Rangers, but I simply couldn't come see.

[krichunaka]

Hampton tripled Johnson County's score - - 66-22.

 

And, this is very interesting:

Greeneville 58 South Greene 52

 

So, the Lady Cyclones can garner some serious confidence with a home win

over the Lady Greene Devils this Thursday evening.

[THE KING]

The old King thinks Krich's rankings are reasonable. I do think that Cloudland can challenge Hampton for that third spot. Unicoi and Elizabethton are reaching for the stratosphere!! Whooo!!

[coachh17]

Hampton tripled Johnson County's score - - 66-22.

 

And, this is very interesting:

Greeneville 58 South Greene 52

 

So, the Lady Cyclones can garner some serious confidence with a home win

over the Lady Greene Devils this Thursday evening.

 

Confidence garnered! Elizabethton beat Greeneville 59-37. The lead was 53-20 before Greeneville ended the game on a 17-6 run. Erin Kiser had a great game for Betsy and the press and halfcourt man-to-man defense was a thing of beauty. Elizabethton is playing extremely well heading into a long break for the Holidays.

[limestonecove]

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Sports/ ... p?ID=72935

 

Great win Cyclones. Unicoi and Betsy in the Regional Final would be nice and may not be such a pipe dream. At the end of the article it was interesting that the tssaa has slapped coach duggers hands for illegal scheduling.

 

 

Lynn "Cheatin Heart" Dugger lives on. A Tiger doesnt change his stripes.....

[etownsparky]

http://www.johnsoncitypress.com/Sports/article.php?ID=72935

 

Great win Cyclones. Unicoi and Betsy in the Regional Final would be nice and may not be such a pipe dream. At the end of the article it was interesting that the tssaa has slapped coach duggers hands for illegal scheduling.

 

 

Lynn "Cheatin Heart" Dugger lives on. A Tiger doesnt change his stripes.....

 

Limestone, I wondered when you were going to "rear your ugly head" again. I'm sure you've been chompin' at the bit to take another jab at the Lady Cyclones and Coach Len Dugger. Your categorization of "illegal scheduling" is misleading. There was no premeditation in this instance, just a misunderstanding. When the schedule was made, the Doc Maples Invitational was not advertised as a tournament. Initially, Coach Dugger was led to believe that every team would know in advance who they played each night (typical of many other round robin formats that lots of teams participate in and don't count as tournaments). When the format was finalized it was convoluted at best. There were only 6 teams (vs. 8) and, regardless of win or loss, some teams knew in advance who they were going to play the first two nights. In the end, I'm told what ultimately made the determination that this was a tournament was that they crowned a champion. Regardless, it was a mistake and the team will move on. Go Lady Cyclones!

[limestonecove]

Bullcrap Sparky. Eliz has played in the Doc Maples tourney for many years and its always counted as a tourney. Dugger didnt self report. tssaa caught him. Cheaters always cry mistake when they get caught.

[etownsparky]

Bullcrap Sparky. Eliz has played in the Doc Maples tourney for many years and its always counted as a tourney. Dugger didnt self report. tssaa caught him. Cheaters always cry mistake when they get caught.

 

It's true EHS has played in Doc Maples for a number of years. But do you really believe that Coach Dugger is naive enough to believe that he could intentionally break the rules and schedule three tournaments without it being reported? I doubt that... Anyways, you seem to know a lot about the situation, i.e. "Dugger didn't self report. tssaa caught him." It's a stretch to say the TSSAA caught anything (that bunch is as close to incompetent as any organization I know of). I heard yesterday that a handful of e-mails with local origins showed up in Mr. Childress' office on the subject. Maybe you were one of them??? Regardless, Coach Dugger and Lady Cyclones will move forward and try to pick up some games in place of the Webb tournament (we can now play 3 more games since the Doc Maples counts as a tournament vs. 3 games). I for one still believe Coach Dugger and the Lady Cyclones are a class act. Although there will always be detractors (especially when a program has success), I believe there are plenty more E-Town folks that feel the same way. Go Lady Cyclones!