ERWIN – The Chuckey-Doak girls used a suffocating defensive effort on Saturday night to take down Happy Valley 56-20 and advance to the District 1-2A championship game.
“Once we settled in we only allowed one field goal after the first quarter, and defense led the way to this win,” Chuckey-Doak coach Kyle Donahue said. “We haven’t played in nine days, and we were itching to shake the rust off. That showed in the first quarter, but after that we got going. I felt like we came in with a great gameplan, but we got away from it in the first quarter. Once we settled in we were able to control the tempo.”
The Lady Black Knights will take on Hampton on Monday at 8 p.m. at Unicoi County High School with the league title on the line. The win also guarantees Chuckey-Doak will be at home on Friday in the first round of the Region 1-2A Tournament.
“We’ve lost to Hampton twice, and both times the first quarter was a hindrance to us. We got behind double digits and had to claw back. On Monday we have to attack from the start. Against Hampton you can’t have a first quarter like we had tonight,” Donahue said.
Chuckey-Doak started the second half leading 28-15, but wasted little time putting the game out of reach. The Lady Black Knights forced turnovers and completely discombobulated the Lady Warriors. They did not allow a field goal in the second half and only gave up four points over the final 16 minutes.
“You always want to start the halves strong, and I felt like we did that in the third quarter. We set the tome in the first two or three minutes and pushed the lead out. That let us separate for good,” Donahue said.
On the offensive end Kennedy Brown struck from behind the arc on the opening possession. Steals by Saniah Atchison, Jayden Myers, and Layla Fox turned into breakaway layups and the lead grew to 41-15 in just over two minutes.
A free throw by Shaniece Gardner broke the streak, but another three-pointer from Brown started another run for Chuckey-Doak.
A steal by Tavyn Southerland led to Fox sinking a jumper from the short corner, and Brown added four more points to send Chuckey-Doak to the final frame leading 52-17.
With the clock running in the fourth quarter and the benches cleared the scoring slowed but Chuckey-Doak was able to finish the night leading 56-20.
Chuckey-Doak used a balanced scoring effort on Saturday with Brown leading the way with 14 points. Tavyn Southerland had 12 points, Fox 10 and Atchison nine.
Saturday’s semifinal action started with Chuckey-Doak jumping out to a 9-2 lead, but as fouls mounted the Lady Warriors were able to find some success on offense. With 2:27 left in the fame Kymber Pruitt made a free throw that cut the lead down to 13-11.
Isabelle Karricker got the Lady Knights going with a turnaround jumper from the block, and as the clock wound down Southerland set up Fox for a transition layup that put Chuckey-Doak in front 18-11.
The pace of play slowed down in the second quarter, but Chuckey-Doak’s lead grew to 21-11 with 4:43 left in the first half when Atchison took a steal coast to coast. That was Chuckey-Doak’s only field goal through the first 6:46 of the period, but on the defensive end the Lady Knights did not let Happy Valley score from the field until the 18-second mark.
Atchison beat the horn with a high-arcing triple to send Chuckey-Doak to halftime leading 28-15.
HAMPTON 62, SOUTH GREENE 45
ERWIN – The South Greene girls struggle to get started on Saturday afternoon and fell to Hampton 62-45 in the semifinals of the District 1-2A Tournament at Unicoi County High School.
The Lady Bulldogs advance to Monday’s championship game where they will meet Chuckey-Doak at 8 p.m. South Greene will play Happy Valley for third place. All four teams will advance to the Region 1-2A Tournament.
“We didn’t do a whole lot good tonight,” South Greene coach Stephen Gregg said. “We just weren’t very good against their press early and made a lot of poor decisions because we were sped up. When you don’t shoot well and you turn it over, things aren’t going to go well for you. We have to fix some things if we are going to advance any further.”
The first quarter began as a defensive struggle and nearing the midway point South Greene clung to a 2-0 lead. With 4:05 left in the period Piper Helle knocked down a straight-away trey and the Lady Bulldogs played from in front the rest of the day.
Hampton’s full-court press and double teams in the half court began to become too much for South Greene to handle and steals by Hannah Smith and Brea Hicks stretched the lead to 10-2. Hampton went to the second quarter leading 12-2, and in the process South Greene’s top guards, Kortnei Bailey and Natilie Foshie picked up two fouls each.
In the second quarter Hampton’s lead stretched out to 24-4 after Faye Carrico scored six points inside. Late in the period Reagan Arrowood breathed some life into the Lady Rebels with a pair of three-pointers, but Hampton still held a 32-12 advantage.
Neveah Davis finished the period with a driving layup for South Greene, but Hampton held a 35-14 lead.
South Greene’s offensive efficiency increased in the third quarter and they handled the pressure applied by the Lady Bulldogs better, but they could not close the gap. At the four-minute mark of the third quarter Hicks drained a triple for Hampton to push the lead to 44-18.
Paisley Brobeck scored South Greene’s final six points of the period, but Hampton closed with a 50-24 lead.
In the fourth quarter Hampton’s defensive pressure turned into foul calls and South Greene made it the free-throw line seven times, converting on 9-of-14 attempts. Led by six points from Natalie Foshie the Lady Rebels scored 21 points in the period and put a dent in the lead, but Hampton’s advantage was too much to overcome.
Foshie led South Greene on Saturday with 10 points.
For Hampton Carrico had 14, Smith 12 and Helle 10.
