The Elizabethton Lady Cyclones have been feeling a little low as of late and were looking for something to give them a boost. And they got just what the doctor ordered when they managed to grab a much-needed win in overtime over the visiting Johnson County Lady Longhorns by a 55-54 margin.

Getting rid of the early nightmare

Coming into the game, the Lady Cyclones still had a bad taste in their mouths after dropping an early-season loss on the road at Mountain City to Coach Leon Tolley’s Lady Longhorns.

Elizabethton was playing without Morgan Headrick at the time who was out with an ankle injury.

Fast forward to the rematch

The game plan was evident early on for the Lady Cyclones as Headrick was back on the court and with the height advantage, it was a no-brainer for Elizabethton head coach Lucas Andrews as the ball was destined for Headrick’s hands for as many touches as possible.

It was a good plan but several shots were errant under the basket resulting in a much closer ballgame than what Andrews was hoping for.

Nip and tuck

throughout

Neither team could really get much separation as with each run an answer came from both sides. The game broke down to Elizabethton leading 9-7 at the end of the first quarter, 21-18 at the half, Johnson County 37-34 at the third stop and 49-49 at the end of regulation.

The game was important to both teams who wanted the conference victory and it was easy to tell that a 4-minute dogfight was on tap.

Battle to the bitter end

With fans from both sides on the edge of their seats, the overtime session was a see-saw affair. For a brief time with 8 seconds remaining, it appeared the Lady ‘Horns might have the game in hand.

Yet, when the game was in the balance, there was only one player that Andrews wanted to see with the ball in her hand and that was Kaylen Shell.

Shell would gather the ball on the Lady ‘Horn end and race the length of the court and take it straight to the rim to drain the game-winner to set off elation on the Lady Cyclone bench and in the stands.

Wisdom according

to Shell

“What Coach Andrews likes to call this is our revenge round,” said Shell of starting the second pass through the conference. “This means so much to us. It’s a positive start.

“We just want to do it for Coach Andrews. We have been kind of down lately and we just want to do it for ourselves as well.

“They were pressing and Coach Andrews had me throwing the ball in and I thought they would have a girl on my back. I thought that I would be open, but I couldn’t have done it without my teammates.

“When I saw it was one on one, I just went to the hole and hoped the ball would go in.”

Taking a look

at the books

Headrick led the offensive attack for the Lady Cyclones with 20 points which included a perfect 12-of-12 from the foul line. Shell added 16 points as the one-two inside punch was just what Elizabethton needed.

Abbey Townsend had one of her best offensive nights of late scoring 8 points. Townsend hit a crucial one-handed jumper late in the fourth quarter.

Cheyenne VanHuss (5), Torrie Roberts (4), and McKendra Norris (2) accounting for the rest of the Lady Cyclones scoring.

The Lady ‘Horns were led by Taylor Cox and Sadie Stout who recorded 16 points apiece. Taylor Parsons had a solid offensive night scoring 11 points.

Emmy Miller (4), Rhiannon Icenhour (3), Abby Cornett (3), and Natalie Winters (1) balanced the scoring ledger for Johnson County.