Tri-County Seven

[coachh17]

The top spot and bottom three positions remain stable this week. We had some shifting in the middle, with one team jumping up 2 spots and two teams dropping down 1. Hope we can avoid the snow and keep playing ball.

 

1.Elizabethton-AA-(20-0)- The state's #1 ranked AA team went 4-0 last week, highlighted by a road win at South Greene and an 80-49 win over CAK. The four seniors are shooting lights out and playing tremendous pressure defense. Junior Lindsey Norris is doing a little bit of everything well and the sophomores (DePew,DeMoss,Roberts, and now McCurry) are playing more meaningful minutes as a regular part of a nine player rotation. Host Greeneville Monday. A trip to Murfreesboro is the team's ultimate goal, but there will be challenges awaiting in the Region, so "one game at a time" should be the focus.

 

2.Cloudland-A-(14-3)- Our young mystery team leaps to the #2 spot with a 48-47 win at Hampton. This is a small team that is heavy on freshmen and guards. They have to be good to beat Hampton on their home floor. Two huge test await this week. The Lady Landers are at South Greene Tuesday and at Unicoi Co. Saturday. If they win both those games, you can call me impressed! May make some serious noise in the post-season.

 

3.Hampton-A-(14-6)- Lost the first big battle with Cloudland. They may see them two or three more times. At Unaka Tuesday. I still think that this team could make it to Murfreesboro.

 

4.Unicoi Co.-AA-(13-5)- Picked up easy wins over Johnson Co.,East, and North, but got spanked by Chuckey-Doak 56-36. Key post player Ivory Shelton left the team, leaving them with only 9 players in the whole program. Something seems amiss in the Devil's Den, but no word as to what is really going on. It should probably stay in-house, but speculation is rampant. At Happy Valley Tuesday. Will they rally back or fold the tents? Still may be very dangerous in the post-season.

 

5.Happy Valley-AA-(8-6)- Played with Elizabethton for a half, before losing 60-27. Host Unicoi Co. Tuesday. Will make the Region tournament. A win there would be surprising, but possible.

 

6.Unaka-A-(7-14)- Crushed 64-29 at North Greene. At Hampton Tuesday. Will finish 4th in the District. Could still make the Regional semi-finals, but will likely go no further.

 

7.Johnson Co.-AA-(0-14)- No wins, but the Lady Longhorns show up and play hard every night. They are holding together and looking toward the future. A credit to them and the coaching staff.

Edited January 23, 2011 by coachh17

[THE KING]

Pretty good, coach. Cloudland does have some height with the Wilson girl. She battled good under the goal with Megan Dugger. They are overloaded with guards though.

[etownsparky]

Rankings look right to me. The Lady Cyclones have a tough one tomorrow night when Greeneville comes to town. Should be a good one. Go Lady Cyclones!

[The Highlander]

I believe Cloudland will be making up the South Greene and Unicoi County games that were postponed. I think we will be playing them on the next two Saturdays. I do not know which is which yet though! We play the regularly scheduled game Tuesday at South Greene.

[uknoit2]

Hampton/Unaka game was moved to Hampton

[etownsparky]

The Lady Cyclones defeated Greeneville tonight 63-47. They played a great 1st half and so-so in the second half. The Lady Devils played better in the 2nd half and cut a 25 point lead to 11 at one time. EHS had some trouble defending the post in the 2nd half which is really not unexpected against a bigger GHS team. Consequently, GHS lived at the line in the second half. Powell played an unbelievable 1st half and Ch. Bowling duplicated her CAK performance with 7 more 3's tonight. The other starters and couple of reserves had solid performances as well.

[The Highlander]

Well, the Lady 'Landers lost 42-51 at South Greene on Tuesday. The 1st Q we had issues with turnovers, and were trailing at the end. The 2nd Q showed a little more poise, and we were able to pull out a slim 2-point lead at the half.

 

SG came out on fire at the start of the 3rd, and blistered us for about 11 or 12 straight. They played very aggressive defense (actually did the whole game) and missed very few shot attempts. Again, we lost the turnover battle, were outrebounded, and just out hustled the whole period.

 

In the 4th, we settled down and played Cloudland basketball. But it was too little, too late. You can't spot a good team 14 or so points and hope to win by playing one quarter. Our defensive intensity caused enormous problems for SG in the 4th, and I don't believe they scored a single point from the floor in the period. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong on that though. We were able to dig out and got within a handful, but ran out of time and had to begin fouling. SG didn't miss many free throws, and they managed the clock fairly well also.

 

This was the first time our freshman had ever seen the SG gym, and they generally played more like freshman in this game. We had far too many turnovers and way too many dribble down and shoot possessions. I just don't feel we did a good job with ball movement. On many possessions, only one, possibly two players touched the ball before putting up a shot. Not good.

 

But, playing at SG was pretty much a non-factor. I was very surprised at how little fan support they had. Other than a totally apathetic student section, I think Cloudland easily had as many fans in attendance.

 

And the officiating was similar to when we played North Greene recently, two of the crew were the same. They approached mediocrity. A much higher level than I have come to expect in Greene County.

 

For what it is worth, SG played a good game. They pursued well defensively, ran their offense well, and hit their free throws. As a smart guy said, free throws win games. SG was 23 of 30, we were 14-23. A difference of nine points, and the final margin in the game.

 

The Highlander

[The Highlander]

Cloudland beat Johnson County in Mountain City last night, enough said.

[etownsparky]

Lady Cyclones won easily tonight at Johnson Co.

[THE KING]

Cloudland beat Johnson County in Mountain City last night, enough said.

A win over unicoi tonight would be huge.

[dog4life]

A win over unicoi tonight would be huge.

 

It is expected because the big girl from Unicoi quit.

[THE KING]

I was there and Unicoi beat Cloudland 63-44. Unicoi cleared their short bench with 6 minutes left up by 28 pts (60-32). Cloudland was just as big as Unicoi, since they are without Ivory now, and didn't seem to compete when their shots weren't falling. Anxious to see the new rankings.

Perfect example of a very young team.