BLOUNTVILLE – The Chuckey-Doak girls basketball team fought to the finish on Monday night in the District 1-2A Tournament third-place game, but the Lady Black Knights came up short in a 73-68 loss to Johnson County.
“The first two times we played them it wasn’t pretty, but I think we showed the turnaround this team has made,” Chuckey-Doak coach Tanner Earley said. “We took it to the wire. We had that no-quit mentality, and I’m unbelievably proud of that.”
The Lady Black Knights now turn their attention to the Region 1-2A Tournament. On Friday they will travel to Gatlinburg-Pittman, the No.1 ranked team in Class 2A, for their region quarterfinal contest.
Monday’s action started with Chuckey-Doak’s Jayden Myers scoring the first four points, but then the Lady Longhorns started to warm up and went on a 14-2 run.
Mackenzie McClain gave Johnson County the lead for good with 5:16 left in the first quarter when she came down the baseline for a layup that made it 5-4.
Audrey Shaw capped the run by finishing off a steal by McClain to push the lead to 14-6.
Myers gave Chuckey-Doak some life with a triple that rattled all the way around the rim, but Johnson County took a 16-10 lead into the second quarter.
Carlene Bishop, who was quiet in the first quarter, started the second frame by absorbing contact and converting a layup. With 5:13 left in the half Bishop knocked a step-back jumper from the elbow to close the gap to 20-19.
Bishop had a huge offensive outing on Monday as she dropped in a career best 28 points for the Lady Black Knights.
“That’s the best game she has played all year,” Earley said. “She played with confidence. She shot it like she knew she was going to hit them. She was unbelievable defensively too. That was a big-time game from her.”
Johnson County began to pull away again and when McClain landed a corner three the Lady Longhorns went in front 34-24.
At the half Johnson County held a 36-28 lead.
Johnson County’s biggest lead to that point came on the first possession of the third quarter when Izzy Thompson drained a triple to make it 39-28.
Chuckey-Doak fought back and with 2:20 left in the period Myers drove the lane and dished to Bishop who hit from beyond the arc to close the gap to 44-43.
Shaw got the Lady Longhorns going again by turning a steal into a quick layup and McClain knocked down a three-pointer to stretch the lead to 53-46 at the close of the quarter.
With 2:06 left to play Shaw put Johnson County in front 69-57, but the Lady Knights had one more run left.
Hayleigh Seidl started the run with a layup. Chloe Kirkpatrick made things interesting with a three-pointer from the right corner, and then Chuckey-Doak’s defense forced a throw away at midcourt.
With 1:16 left to play Bishop landed a triple from the left corner that closed the gap to 69-65. Kirkpatrick struck again with 44 seconds on the clock to make it 71-68.
Going the other way Seidl’s pressure defense forced Shaw to dribble off her foot and the Lady Black Knights had possession down three points with 29 seconds left. The opportunity fizzled away when Chuckey-Doak was called for a double dribble.
Johnson County held on for a 73-68 win.
In addition to Bishop’s 28 points Myers scored 17 points and Kirkpatrick had 10 points.
For Johnson County McClain scored 29 points and Shaw put in 23 points.
