Lady Wildcats cruise past central 67-28
Evaiya Mitchell (4) tossed in 12 points in the Lady Wildcats’ district meeting with Central’s Lady Bobcats. Oak Ridge dominated Central with a 22-5 opening first quarter and never looked back. The Lady Wildcats won the game 67-28 and remained undefeated in the 2024-25 season. (photo:Tony Cox )
The Lady Wildcats overcame some unkind rims in Fountain City, shaking off early shooting woes to cruise past a young Knoxville Central team 67-28.
Lady Wildcats Ccoach Paige Taylor acknowledged her team’s history of slow starts at Central’s gym.
“We’ve had trouble with that over here before,” Taylor said. “If we would’ve been able to hit a few of those shots, we would’ve been ahead by more.”
Oak Ridge (6-0 overall, 2-0 in the district) pushed through its shooting troubles to build a commanding 22-5 lead by the end of the first quarter. The Lady Wildcats extended the margin to 35-14 at halftime and 54-22 by the end of the third quarter.
The sizable lead allowed Taylor to rotate in reserves, who gained valuable experience while maintaining control of the game.
“I was really proud of the effort we gave,” Taylor said. “We subbed, and the girls that we put in all played well. We took care of business, and everybody got to play.”
Oak Ridge displayed a balanced scoring attack Friday night. Ze’Yana Stewart and Ayana Porter shared scoring honors with 15 points each. Evalya Mitchell added 12 points, Jenna Johnson scored eight, and Paige Lawing and Honesty Thompson contributed six apiece.
The Lady Wildcats opened district play earlier in the week with an 86-15 rout of Knoxville Halls at Wildcat Arena. Porter led all scorers with 19 points, while Jenayah Pippins added 15 and Stewart, who scored her 1,000th career point, chipped in 10.
