By Michael Lindsay
The Cumberland County Lady Jets closed out the pre-Christmas portion of their schedule Saturday afternoon as they defeated Monterey in the DTC Christmas Classic championship game in Gordonsville, 69-22.
Saturday’s victory is their 10th consecutive of the season as the Lady Jets currently sit at 11-1 overall. The Lady Jets went 3-0 in Gordonsville with victories over Nashville Christian, Green Hill and Monterey.
“I thought this was a really good tournament,” said Lady Jet head coach Kim Cram-Torres. “We got to see some teams we wouldn’t typically get to see. We played a really good Green Hill team yesterday, so it was nice to see a team that was built different than us.”
The Lady Jets were originally scheduled to face East Hickman in Friday’s championship before the Lady Eagles dropped out of the tournament, setting up Friday’s game against Monterey with less than 24 hours notice.
“We told the girls to be ready for changes,” said Cram. “We didn’t want to get into any bad habits and wanted to get a lot of people a lot of playing time.”
Freshman point guard Sydney Wilhite led the Lady Jets with 18 points against Monterey along with 13 points by senior forward Jalynn Baldwin. Freshman Lauren Clark also hit double-figures with 11.
Friday’s victory capped off the pre-Christmas slate for the Lady Jets, who are currently 11-1 overall.
“We’re happy with what we’ve done in these games so far,” said Cram. “Our freshmen have played a lot of basketball, so even though they’re young, I don’t consider them young on the basketball court. It’s important to feel good about where we are, but we can’t get too high. Everybody knows the toughest part of our schedule is ahead of us.”
Cumberland County will travel to Tampa Bay, FL, for holiday tournament action beginning Dec. 27 before opening District 7-3A play on Jan. 5 against Livingston Academy.
