Chuckey-Doak’s girls basketball team picked up their first win of the season after a dominant 67-36 victory over Hancock County on Saturday afternoon.
The best type of wins are when everybody gets involved. Every single player touched the floor and scored for the Lady Black Knights on Saturday in their big win. It was the first home game of the season and the first time some of those players have ever played on their home court. And lucky for them, they were all able to contribute.
“I thought we played really well. Anytime you can get everybody in the game number one and everybody gets in the book number two it’s a good night. So, everybody scored and we’ve really talked about playing tough and I thought that showed tonight,” Lady Knights Head Coach Kyle Donahue stated.
Tavyn Southerland led Chuckey-Doak in scoring with an efficient 15-point performance. Isabelle Karriker and Kennedy Brown joined her in double figures with 12 and 10 points respectively.
The Lady Knights made a statement early by jumping out to a 9-0 lead a minute into the game. Their full court pressure led to an abundance of turnovers in the first quarter that eventually led to points. Karriker won the tip and scored first with an offensive putback layup. Brown scored the same way seconds later. Karriker delivered another layup and Southerland fought through contact for an old-fashioned three-point play with a layup and free throw.
“We wanted to jump out and I thought that was one of the things we didn’t do. We didn’t start fast, but I thought being here at home helped us. We missed some layups, but what I was most proud about is how we followed it up. We work on that a lot and make sure we are in a position to not only get a steal and get a layup but to get a rebound,” Donahue mentioned.
Tralyn Southerland scored a layup to make it 12-0 before Hancock County finally got on the scoreboard with a triple from Addy Hill. Tavyn Southerland responded back with a three of her own next. Brown scored five-straight to end the first quarter with Chuckey-Doak on top 20-5.
Layla Fox’s mid-range jumper opened up the second quarter. The Lady Indians made a small run with 13 points in the second to draw back within 11 points. Zoe Pyne scored 10-straight points in a 10-4 run for Hancock.
Isabelle Karriker’s steal-and-score killed the run. The Lady Knight finished with an 8-1 run started by Karriker’s bucket. Tavyn Southerland and Layla Fox sank a pair of free throws and Jayden Myers banked in a layup to end the half. Chuckey-Doak went to the locker room leading 36-18 at the half.
Chuckey-Doak kept piling onto their lead by outscoring Hancock 16-9 in the third. The quarter was highlighted by two free throws from Tralyn Southerland, a three-point bucket from Brown, a long mid-range from Fox, and a long mid-range from Tavyn Southerland. Chloe Kirkpatrick netted a free throw to end the quarter. The Lady Knights led 52-27 entering the fourth.
Saniah Atchison had yet to score entering the fourth quarter. She gained the hot hand and drained a pair of three-point bombs and finished the game with seven points. Khloe Henderson and Sarah Yates scored two points each in the fourth quarter to make sure every player scored on Saturday night.
The Lady Black Knights left the court with a 67-36 win. Tavyn Southerland was the game’s leading scorer with 15 points followed by Isabelle Karriker with 12 points and Kennedy Brown with 10.
Zoe Pyne and Teagan Cooper both scored 10 points each for the Lady Indians.
Chuckey-Doak will participate in the Hardee’s Classic next week and start with Cocke County Monday at 3:30 at David Crockett High School.
BOYS
HANCOCK COUNTY 51, CHUCKEY-DOAK 45
The Black Knights suffered a 51-45 loss at home to Hancock County on Saturday night. Chuckey-Doak managed to hang in early, but a bad second quarter and scoreless drought in the third quarter spelled trouble for the hosts.
It was Chuckey-Doak’s first game at home this season and the first home game for many of their first-year varsity players. Their youth showed on Saturday night in a low-scoring effort of only 45 points. It snaps a 12-game streak of 50+ points at home.
“You don’t know how a teenager is going to react when the lights come on and I saw some of that tonight,” Head Coach Sam Broyles stated.
Turnovers became an issue also with 14 total even though they did manage to commit zero in the fourth quarter in their comeback effort.
“We didn’t do a good job at taking care of the basketball. Fourth quarter we did take care of it and we didn’t have any turnovers in the fourth quarter, but the first three we had 14. You can’t turn the ball over 14 times and especially when you don’t shoot the ball well like tonight,” Coach Broyles said.
Gavin Crum led them in scoring for the second game in-a-row with 14 points. Ryland Grindstaff joined him in double figures with 13.
Brady Swiney started the game with a three-pointer for the Indians. Isaiah Fodor laid the ball up in transition to push them out to a 5-0 lead early. Dominique Atchison and Grindstaff made back-to-back layups, but back-to-back layups on the other end by Jacob Johnson and Swiney equaled those buckets. Grindstaff, Crum, and Grant Bishop used the glass for three layups to help tie it 12-12 at the end of the first.
Hancock County used the second quarter to pull away from Chuckey-Doak with a 19-10 run. Crum, Grindstaff, and Bishop scored the only three field goals for the Knights in the second. The Indians received production from six different scorers in the second frame. The score was 31-22 in Hancock’s favor at the half.
It took Chuckey-Doak over five minutes to finally score a bucket in the third quarter, but luckily Hancock had a hard time scoring too. Gavin Crum ended the drought with an and-one and scored six-straight. Isaiah Fodor scored five-straight before him to lead Hancock in third-quarter production. The third quarter ended with the Indians ahead 39-30.
“That third quarter killed us,” Broyles expressed. “What’s amazing is at times our defense kept us in it. We played them even even though we went five minutes without scoring.”
Both teams traded buckets back-and-forth until a four-point run late in the quarter saw Chuckey-Doak cut it to two possessions. Ben Palazzo and Ryland Grindstaff’s back-to-back layups cut it to six points. A layup from Connor King put it back to eight, but Gavin Crum nailed an immediate three to trim the margin to five.
The Black Knights seemed to have some luck on their side as Hancock missed four-straight free throws with under a minute to go. Unfortunately, none of their big shots would fall and Chuckey-Doak ended up suffering a 51-45 defeat at home.
Crum led them with 14 points and Grindstaff followed with 13.
Isaiah Fodor led Hancock County with 18 points and Nason Delph delivered 11.
The Black Knights will play in next week’s Hardee’s Classic at David Crockett High School and begin the annual tournament with the hosting Pioneers on Tuesday at 8:00.
