JONESBOROUGH – The Chuckey-Doak girls played tough on Monday afternoon in the Hardee’s Classic at David Crockett High School, but ultimately Cocke Cunty pulled away in the second half for a 58-47 win.
“I thought we played tough and that’s been a big emphasis,” Chuckey-Doak coach Kyle Donahue said. “Unfortunately, in the third quarter we had a lot of turnovers and didn’t play as smart as we needed to. We handled their pressure well for a lot of the game, but that third quarter it got to us. I’m really proud of the effort, and I’m proud to see growth from this group.”
Chuckey-Doak stayed neck and neck with the Lady Red for the entirety of the first half, and Donahue does take it as a positive that his squad can play with a team that returns some key pieces from last year’s Class 3A state semifinal run.
“We talked a lot about our game against Hancock, and how it’s easy to make shots when no one is guarding you. But its hard to play tough when a team is hounding you,” Donahue said. “So it was encouraging to see us respond the way we did. We obviously have things to clean up, but I was encouraged by some things today.”
Wednesday’s action started with Tavyn Southerland sinking a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter while scoring eight points. Her second triple came from the top of the key and closed the gap to 11-10. The first quarter closed with Cocke County leading 13-10.
Southerland led Chuckey-Doak on Monday with 15 points.
“Tavyn has been good in the last couple games. She is finding her rhythm outside and she got us jumpstarted,” Donahue said. “I thought she played really well. Belle and Tralyn played really well on the inside. They did a good job of controlling a really good post player in (Karmine) Carmichael.”
In the second quarter the teams traded buckets with Chuckey-Doak unable to take the lead and Cocke County unable to pull away.
Layla Fox got the scoring started for the Lady Black Knights with an elbow jumper that was set up by Tralyn Southerland who grabbed an offensive rebound.
Tavyn Southerland and Trayln Southerland added buckets on the inside, but six points from Karmine Carmichael allowed Cocke County to open up a 24-18 lead.
Cocke County’s biggest lead of the first half came with 1:01 left when Blaekelyn Clevenger sank a triple to make it 27-20.
Isabelle Karricker scored the final four points in the period to close the gap to 27-24 at halftime.
In the third quarter the Lady Red’s pressure began to overwhelm the Lady Knights as Clevenger and Abby Niethammer each scored in transition in the first 1:10 of the second half.
Niethhammer then took a steal coast to coast and Carmichael scored three the old-fashioned way to push Cocke County’s lead to 38-27.
Fouls began to mount for Cocke County in the final portion of the period and Chuckey-Doak went to the foul line five times in the final 3:46 of play. Unfortunately for the Lady Knights they went 5-of-10 in their free attempts, but did close the gap to 44-36 by the close of the quarter.
The Lady Red started the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run behind three-pointers from Brookelyn Clevenger and Blakelyn Clevenger to take a 54-36 lead.
Karricker scored the next four points on the inside for Chuckey-Doak. Fox and Tavyn Southerland then each took a steal the other way for a lay in that narrowed the margin to 54-44.
A full-court pass from Tavyn Southerland set up Fox for a breakaway layup which cut Cocke County’s lead to 54-47 with 40 seconds remaining.
Cocke County made four free throws in the final 34 seconds to set the final margin at 58-47.
Southerland led Chuckey-Doak on Monday with 15 points, Karricker had 14 and Fox scored 10.
Blakelyn Clevenger led Cocke County with 17 points, Shakra Reed scored 13 points, and Carmichael scored 12 points.
Chuckey-Doak will be back in action at the Hardee’s Classic on Wednesday against Providence Academy at 3 p.m.
