All good things must come to an end. Unfortunately for the Lady ‘Landers, they weren’t the team ending the streak.
Cloudland was unable to shake off a slow start as they fell 54-47 to University High on Tuesday night inside Brooks Gym on the campus of ETSU. It was the first loss for the Lady ‘Landers at the hands of the Lady Jr. Bucs since the 2003-2004 season.
Kendall Mull opened the game with a trey to give Cloudland an early lead, but UH held the Lady ‘Landers scoreless for the next four minutes. During that stretch, Lexi Crouthers hit two 3-pointers to power the Lady Jr. Bucs to a 12-3 advantage with just under four minutes to play in the first quarter. Shian Strickland and Mull stopped the run with baskets, but University High quickly went on a 4-0 run of their own. Strickland added two more jumpers in the quarter. However, the Lady Jr. Bucs took a 22-11 lead into the second quarter.
In the second quarter, Cloudland pulled within seven with buckets from Peyton Johnson and Faith Russell. Elise Howard and Crouthers pushed the lead back to double-digits for UH, but a 6-0 Cloudland run capped by a Mull trey pulled the Lady ‘Landers within 30-23 at the half.
Mull continued to to have a hot hand shooting in the second half as she scored seven points in the third quarter. That powered the Lady ‘Landers to storm back into the game as the Lady Jr. Bucs held a slim 40-39 advantage heading into the final quarter.
Russell pushed Cloudland into the lead with the first bucket of the stanza and she then converted a pair of free throws to take a 44-42 lead with 5:48 to play. However, a Howard trey regained the lead for the Lady Jr. Bucs, and set the stage for UH to finish the game with a 12-3 run to take the victory.
Mull led the way with a game-high 17 points, while Russell ended the game with 12 points. Strickland finished with seven points, and Taylor tossed in six points to the Cloudland cause.
Howard and Crouthers led University High with 15 points apiece, while Ari Ramsaran tallied 14 points. Mollee Cohee scored 10 points.
Cloudland returns to action on Friday night with a trip to Avery County (N.C.).
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Cloudland Head Coach Matt Birchfield
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