For the second night in a row, the Cloudland basketball programs hosted a full slate of games.
The Lady ‘Landers walked away with a 59-40 over border rival Avery County (N.C.), but the boys’ team was unable to shake off a late run as they fell 64-36 to the Vikings.
Girls
Cloudland jumped out early and never looked back as they rolled to victory over the Lady Vikings. After a sluggish start, Cloudland began to pull away with four points from Shian Strickland and a trey from Johanna Johnson. That powered CHS to a 16-6 lead after the first quarter.
Stachia Wilson scored five straight points in the second quarter, and Cloudland maintained a 34-15 lead at the half. From there, the outcome was never in doubt as the Lady ‘Landers held Avery at bay.
Johnson led the way with 14 points, while Trinity Vines tallied 10 points. Lisa Ellis tossed in nine points, and Payton Johnson and Strickland had seven points a piece.
Cloudland Head Coach Lucas Andrews audio
Boys
Preston Benfield scored 19 points, but it wasn’t enough as Cloudland was unable to keep pace with the uptempo Vikings.
Avery County extended the lead to 13-4 over the first six minutes of the game, and maintained a 16-6 lead at the quarter break. Jesse Potter opened the second quarter with a basket for Cloudland. However, a 15-5 run pushed the Viking lead to 31-14 at the break.
The ‘Landers used points from Benfield to close the gap to 10 points. However, that was as close as they could get as the Vikings jumped out to a 44-31 advantage after three, and started the fourth quarter on a 9-1 run.
Potter tallied 10 points for Cloudland in the game.
Cloudland Head Coach Gary Harrison Audio
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