Lady Cyclones played in the greatest game ever!

Published 12:01 pm Friday, March 10, 2023

By C.Y. Peters

    While rushing to get the game online for all the Carter County people, I left out many highlights in last night’s game.   In all my 60-plus years of watching and reporting basketball games, I am often asked what the greatest game I ever saw was.  That question was answered on Thursday night and will be hard to be topped.

    Elizabethton had four losses on the year and Jackson was undefeated, so the Cyclones were the underdog.  From the start of the opening whistle until the final sound of the horn the Lady Cyclones played as hard, as fast and under control as anyone could ask of any team.  The game was fast pace and neither team seemed to have the ball more than eight to ten seconds before a shot was up.

At one time in the game, the Lady Cyclones had a 15-point lead, but fouls are a big part of the game.  Key players are very important in the game and the Lady Cyclone had all key players.  So when a player collected too many fouls, it was hard to adjust.  The only time Jackson was in the game was when one of the Cyclones starters was on the bench.

     Marlee Mathena was at the top of her game and played like a superstar.  Several fouls called on her were good blocks, and she still had six blocks.  She did as she was taught, hold your hands straight up and she did.  She blocked several shots and scored some key baskets.

    Olivia Holly played very hard and hustled up and down the court.  The big three she hit had everyone in the arena yelling for her.  Riley Whitson hit six of six from the charity stripe and scored 13 points. She also had three assists in the game.

  Katie Lee was perfect from the free throw line and scored in double figures on the night. She gave the Cyclones 24 minutes of tough play, and hustle.

 When Rena Lane fouled out, several Cyclone supporters were in tears; I was one of them.  She played a remarkable game and the Southside team never offered to put pressure on her.  She stood tall and looked over the court with her sharp passes and inside looks.  When she hit that three from NBA land, I thought the roof was coming off Murphy Center.  She played at the top of her game and gave all she could.  Scoring 16 points, she was 11 of 12 from the line, and pulled down nine rebounds. Coach McNeal of Jackson had nothing but praise for Lane and Lina Lyon.  “What a player Lyon is;” with twenty-four points, she was the main cog in the Cyclone offense.  Lina had five assists and played 38 minutes in the game.

The game went into two overtimes and the score of 160 points between the two teams is the second highest in TSSAA Girls basketball.

Lucas Andrews did an amazing job from the bench, all the scouting reports, all the films they watched with assistant coaches Gary and Gordan Smith, Melenda Egolf and Maci Andrews.  The Lady Cyclones were well prepared for the big game.  They were District Champs, Regional Champs, won the Sub-State game and were one of the final four teams in the state.

    To give you a clue about the team Jackson was, here are some scores of games they played during the season.

Jackson 75  Haywood 16

Jackson 60  Covington 20

Jackson 57  Ripley 9

Jackson 64 Liberty 7

Jackson 61 Northside 9

Jackson 64 Hardin County 12

Jackson 64 Chester Co. 25

Jackson 62 Bolivar  24

Jackson 79 Haywood 26