ROGERSVILLE – The West Greene Lady Buffaloes made the short trip to Cherokee High School for a Friday night tilt with the Lady Chiefs., but despite a valiant effort the Lady Buffs fell 47-36.
West Greene coach Betsy Shaw said after the game, “We’re getting better. They’re a really good team, but I thought we played hard. They just made more shots than we did, as I said we’re getting better and I’m excited about our future.”
The game was a little off pace at the start, which worked in the Lady Buffs favor. Payton Norton put the Lady Buffs on the scoreboard first and Emily Justis knocked down a triple from the elbow for a 7-5 lead.
Sarah Justis made a pass down low to Joie Shipley for a layup off the glass for two more. But the Lady Chiefs we’re also scoring in bunches. Sarah Justis was good on a short jumper as the quarter was nearing it’s end. The Lady Buffs only trailed after one quarter by a score of 16-13 on the road.
The Lady Chiefs caught fire as the second quarter got underway, going on a 10-0 run and taking a 13-point lead at 26-13.
The Lady Buffaloes were able to keep their composure and scored on the next four possessions. Kahlie Edwards drained a triple from the elbow, Emily Justis hit a baseline jumper, and Norton made a basket from the free throw line. Neveah Fillers capped off he mini run and the quarter with a deep three from the bend and the Lady Buffs were back within five at 28-23 at the half.
Cherokee extended the lead in the third quarter by taking advantage of a Lady Buff scoring drought. It could have been much worse if not for the defense of the Lady Buffs, only allowing 12 points. The Lady Buffs were out scored 12-6 in the quarter but were still in striking distance at 40-29 going into the fourth quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter Norton made two free throws and Shipley made one of two from the line to cut into the lead, but the Lady Chiefs matched the Lady Buffs bucket for bucket. Davis did make things interesting with back-to-back layup as she drove the lane, but the Lady Chiefs were able to mold on for an 11 point win at 47-36.
WEST GREENE- Norton 8, Shipley 8, Davis 6, EJustis 5, SJustis 2, Fillers 3, Edwards 3
CHEROKEE – Sivert 24, Pearson 7, Lawson 6, Nelson 5, Coward 5
BOYS
CHEROKEE 73, WEST GREENE 49
The West Greene boys got off to a hot start against Cherokee on Friday night, but could not keep pace late and fell 73-49 in Rogersville.
West Greene coach Allen Tolliver said, “We were down our senior point guard (Elijah Williams) and our offense runs through him. We had to change up some things, I thought Josiah (Dawson) did a great job.”
Josiah Dawson stepped up got the Buffs rolling with short jumper in the lane. Tytus Shelton was fouled down low, the shot was off the mark, but he made both free throws to tie the game at 4-4.
Isaiah Jones put the Chiefs up by three with a triple from the key, but Shelton hit a turnaround jumper off the baseline through contact, he hit the free throw to complete the old-fashioned-three-point play and tie the score a 7-7. West Greene’s Ayden Lamons worked the baseline for short jumper and followed that with a layup as he muscled his way to the goal. Then Carter Stills knocked down a three-pointer from the elbow with five seconds left in the first quarter.
The Chiefs were unable to get off a shot before the buzzer sounded, and the Buffs were up 14-9 after one quarter.
Dawson hit a triple from the elbow for the Buffs first points of the second quarter, but the Chiefs found their range as well making five three-point baskets in the second quarter alone and Buffs that had once led by as many as five points would trail by seven at the half at 30-23.
Lamons pulled the Buffs to within five at 30-25 on a follow of his own miss. Shelton followed that with a reverse layup that was good and the Buffs were just down three points at 30-27.
Jones made one of two from the line for the Chiefs and Dawson cut the deficit to only two with a pair form the charity stripe.
That was when the wheels fell off of the wagon so to speak. The Chiefs scored 10 unanswered points and had a 12-point lead at the end of the third quarter at 49-37.
It looked like the Buffs might stay with reach when Lamons muscled up another layup to start the final period, but the Chiefs went on another 10-0 run and started pulling away. The Chiefs would make five more three-point shots in the fourth quarter and win by a score of 73-49 in a game that was much closer the the final score would indicate.
Dawson led the Buffs in scoring with 19 while both Lamons and Shelton added 10 each.
Tolliver would later say, “I’m going to say they must have hit 60 percent from three, if not better. Anytime a team shots like that from three, they’re going to be tough to beat, but I thought we played well for two and a half to three quarters. The intensity was there, the effort and energy was there. It’s really hard to beat a team that hot.”
WEST GREENE – Dawson 19, Lamons 10, Shelton 10, Heck 6, Caldwell 1
CHEROKEE – Jeffers 19, Jones 13, Carmack 13, BMarkham 11, EMarkham 2, Hughes 6, Maxwell 6
