Fans of the Grand Oaks Elementary School Eagles basketball team — in the Anderson County Elementary School Basketball League — go prepared. Pom poms are handed out and the letters G.O.E.S. are flashed at appropriate moments by supporters of the team (including the eagle mascot). The league has two weeks of play left at Clinton High School’s Donnie Dome. Games begin at 9 a.m. on Saturdays.
Hard work has paid off for Lady Mavs’ volleyball standout
by Ken Leinart
The recipe for success according to Leah Freeman: Work. Work harder. Rest (a little). Work some more. Rinse. Repeat.
That may not be the exact recipe, because Freeman is a good person and she likes to have fun as much as the next person.
But Freeman, an Anderson County High School volleyball standout, decided early in her life she wanted to play Division I volleyball, and last Friday she made that come true.
Freeman signed with Kennesaw State University, located outside of Atlanta.
Freeman is driven.
“She was 14 or 15 and she said, ‘I’m going to play D-1 volleyball,” her father, Travis Freeman, said. “And she’s certainly worked hard to get here.”
And she is very, very smart.
“She is so intense, not only in games, but in practice,” Anderson County Head Volleyball Coach Jayme Smith said. “She always has questions. She always asks, ‘Why?’ and wants to fix it and correct it.
Clinton Lady Dragon Sarah Burton tallied 73 points in the first games of the 2021-2022 season. The senior wants to set the school’s scoring record and reach 2,000 in points as a graduation present. - Ken Leinart
The Clinton Lady Dragons opened the 2021-22 basketball season with a pair of Hall of Fame games last week.
On Tuesday, they traveled to McMinn County and took a 74-58 loss to a very good Lady Cherokees team.
The bright spot for the Lady Dragons was that Sarah Burton reached 1,500 career points. In fact, the game-high 40 points from Burton helped keep Clinton in the game until McMinn County pulled away in the fourth quarter.
The Lady Dragons trailed 42-30 at the half and cut the deficit to six points late in the third quarter. But the Lady Cherokees opened the fourth quarter on a 10-3 run and put the game away late.
“The first game we came out with some jitters.” said Alicia Phillips, head coach of the Lady Dragons. “McMinn County is a great ball team and we knew it would be a good test. We played great in the third quarter. Sarah Burton led our team in scoring, but overall I was proud of how hard we played and how we fought to come back.”
AC: Connor Martin (19), Bryson Vowell (15), Brandon McGhee (12), Ryan McGhee (6), Carter Nelson (5), Zeke West (4), Jacob Dooley (4), Tate Russell (3), Brandon Phillips (3), Cole Russell (3), Brandon Dake (2), Gracen Bradshaw (2)
On Saturday, the Mavericks picked up three wins at home.
The Clinton Dragons opened the basketball season with a 60-52 loss at McMinn County last Tuesday.
“They [McMinn County] have a good team and they shoot the ball really well,” said Chris Lockard, head coach of the Dragons.
“Honestly, we were just out of sync,” he said. “I don’t know if it was a little bit of first game nerves. These boys know they’re under the gun a little bit and expected to do really well. We just didn’t play the way we play. I don’t want to take anything away from McMinn County, they had a lot to do with that.”
The Dragons trailed 14-12 after one quarter of play and 34-30 at the half.
They trimmed the deficit to 44-42 at the end of three quarters.
The Clinton Middle School Hawks have had a busy start to the season
The Hawks played in a tournament at Oliver Springs High School Nov. 11-13, losing to First Baptist Academy 42-33.
Cade Trowbridge had 13 points in that game and Braylen Hayden had seven points.
On Nov. 12. the Hawks beat Mount Pisgah at Mount Pisgah Christian Academy by a score of 39-17. The Hawks shut out Mount Pisgah in the second half.
Braylen Hayden and Jaxon Wilburn each had eight points in the win.
On Nov. 13, the Hawks lost to Lakeway 54-39. Only down by five at halftime, the Hawks saw any chance of a comeback float away when Lakeway played almost perfect ball in the final quarter.
Braylen Hayden had 16 points and Cade Trowbridge had 14 points.
The Hawks lost on the road Nov. 15 at Maryville, 49-24. The Hawks turned the ball over 24 times — unusual for this team. Braylen Hayden had 12 points.
The Hawks beat Carpenters Middle School 42-28 Nov. 18.
Braylen Hayden had 18 points and Cade Trowbridge had seven points in that win..
The Lady Blaze lost on a last second shot, 15-13, to St. Mary’s last Thursday — a team that had beaten them by double digits earlier.
Kailyn Martin scored four points and Morgan James scored three and had five rebounds.
Austin Phillips had eight points and four steals in leading the Blaze to a win on the road. Kade Webb notched six points and three rebounds and Evan Carmichael had seven points and three steals.
The teams are off this week but return Nov. 29 with the girls playing Dyliss while the boys will play an intrasquad game.
