Lady Dragons top Lady Mavs
The Clinton Lady Dragons picked up a key district road win at Anderson County last Friday, winning by a score of 47-41.
It was also the first time the Lady Dragons beat the Lady Mavs since the 2010 season.
Thanks to scores from Nikki Jones and Danyel Joy Clinton took the early 4-0 lead before Anderson County answered with an 11-0 run thanks to points from Hannah Freeman, Maci Houser, and Brooklin McCoy. A basket by Abby Szabo and a 3-pointer by Jones pulled Clinton to within a basket.
The Lady Mavs led 11-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Anderson County built a 21-14 lead in the second quarter before the Lady Dragons ended the half on a 12-1 run thanks to a 3-pointer from Amaya Whitt and three treys from Jones.
At the half, Clinton led 26-22.
An 11-0 run early in the third quarter — including seven points by McCoy — gave the Lady Mavs the lead at 32-27 with 2:52 remaining. Joy and Jones answered for the Lady Dragons with a pair of free throws each. Jones had another 3-pointer to give Clinton a 34-33 lead at the end of the quarter
Scores by Callie Bowing and Tea` Hickson helped Anderson County regain the lead before another 3-pointer by Amaya Whitt put the Lady Dragons back out in front. A 3-pointer by Joy gave Clinton a 40-37 advantage and a lead they did not relinquish as Jones, Maddie White, and Kinley Martin sank free throws in the final minute to close out the game for the Lady Dragons.
“It’s been like this nearly every game. We get a lead and don’t extend it. We beat ourselves. We throw it away, we don’t play defense, we don’t pick up the shooter — our girls have to understand when they get the lead they have to take care of the basketball. In games like this, you can’t let teams get momentum and that’s what we did,” said Mike Ellis, head coach of the Lady Mavs.
“Clinton played hard and I believe they played harder than we did. They were hungry for the win and that was the difference,” he added.
“We talked about it all season. We’re picking up non-district wins over teams that we’re better than but we really need to get wins over teams like Anderson County, Halls, and Powell. That’s something we’ve not done. I feel like we might be a little more talented than them [Anderson County] this season but they kicked our butts at home. We didn’t play our best basketball tonight. We only had three shots from the floor that weren’t 3-pointers and we missed some free throws,” said Alicia Phillips, head coach of the Lady Dragons.
“I’m proud of the girls. They played hard. At the end of the game they got the stops and the box outs. At Clinton, they outrebounded us 58-27 - I think 28 of those were on the offensive end. That was one of the man challenges for us - we could not let that happen again. We did a much better job on the boards tonight,” she said.
Jones led all scorers with 22 points — including six 3-pointers. Joy finished with 11 points for Clinton.
McCoy led Anderson County with 15 points. Houser scored 10 points for the Lady Mavs.
The Lady Mavs host Oak Ridge on Friday. They host Powell on Tuesday and travel to Knox Central on Wednesday to make up the game postponed from Jan. 16 because of weather.
Tip-off for each game is 6 p.m.
CHS 9 17 8 13 47
AC 11 11 11 8 41
CHS — Nikki Jones (22), Danyel Joy (11), Amaya Whitt (8), Kinley Martin (3), Abby Szabo (2), Maddie White (1)
AC — Brooklin McCoy (15), Maci Houser (10), Hannah Freeman (7), Callie Bowling (5), Tea` Hickson (2), Juliann Smith (2)
The Lady Dragons got a hard-fought non-district win at Gibbs Monday night by a score of 64-55.
The physical tone of the game was established in the first quarter as the Lady Eagles built a 10-4 lead. Ally Evans sank two free throws and Martin scored to trim the Clinton deficit to two points. Jones hit a 3-pointer to give the Lady Dragons a n 11-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter saw each team trade baskets as Evans and Szabo scored on the inside for Clinton. Gibbs took control late in the half as they closed out on a 9-2 run and took a 29-26 lead at the half.
The Lady Eagles pushed their lead to five as the Lady Dragons’ sluggish play continued. A technical foul was assessed on Clinton at the 4:41 mark and that seemed to ignite the Lady Dragons as they unleashed a flurry of scoring, generated by their pressure defense. Martin, Jones, Whitt, Evans, and White combined to end the quarter on a 22-2 run to give Clinton a 51-36 lead.
Just when it seemed the Lady Eagles were finished they battled back. Aggressive physical play combined with several friendly whistles and poor shot selection by the Lady Dragons combined to allow Gibbs to go on a 16-3 run. With 2:14 left in the game, the Lady Eagles narrowed the Clinton lead to 57-53.
From that point on, Martin, Whitt, and Joy knocked down their free throws to help the Lady Dragons stave off a furious fourth quarter rally.
Jones led all scorers with 18 points. Whitt scored 13 while Joy had 12. Evans had 10 points to give Clinton four players in double-digit scoring.
The Lady Dragons will host Knox Central on Friday and travel to Halls on Tuesday. They will host Campbell County on Wednesday. The game was rescheduled from Jan. 16 due to weather.
Tip-off for each game is 6 p.m.
CHS 11 15 24 13 64
Gibbs 10 19 7 19 55
CHS — Nikki Jones (18), Amaya Whitt (13), Danyel Joy (12), Ally Evans (10), Kinley Martin (6), Abby Szabo (4), Maddie White (1)
Gibbs — Sierra Hucklebee (17), Kaleigh Caldwell (13), Jade Mullins (11), Ardeja McMillian (6), Ashley Thomas (3), Sally Spangler (2)