Girls
North Greene 55, Unaka 51
The Lady Rangers dropped a heartbreaker on Friday night.
The teams traded points for most of the first half as Unaka held a 19-16 advantage after a quarter of play.
After North Greene regained a slim lead early in the second, Tara Whitehead and Abby Slemp hit 3-pointers to push UHS to a six-point lead.
North Greene trimmed the lead to 32-31 by the half.
The third quarter was much the same as Unaka maintained a 39-38 lead after Lyndie Ramsey hit a buzzer-beater 3-pointer to end the quarter.
In the fourth quarter, NG regained the lead in the opening minutes and pushed the lead out to six points.
Whitehead, however, knocked down a 3-pointer to close the gap.
After NG pushed the lead back out to nine with just under two minutes to play, Unaka continued to battle and pulled within four, but was unable to regain the lead.
Ramsey led Unaka with 23 points, while Whitehead had 14 points.
Elizabethton 58, Morristown West 38
The Lady Cyclones jumped out early and never looked back.
EHS raced out to a 22-4 lead in the first quarter with seven Lady Cyclones finding the scorebook in the opening quarter.
The teams played nearly even for the second and third quarters as Elizabethton kept West from rallying.
Olivia Holly had 15 points to pace the Lady Cyclones, while Maddie Fowler added 14 points. Lina Lyon had 12 points.
Unicoi County 48, Happy Valley 45
The Lady Warriors came up short despite rallying from a double-digit halftime lead.
After the first quarter saw the Lady Blue Devils hold a slim 13-12 advantage after a quarter of play, Unicoi outscored HV 14-2 in the second quarter to take a 27-14 advantage.
Happy Valley, however, didn’t go quietly as the Lady Warriors outscored Unicoi 18-10 in the third quarter to get back in the game.
HV continued to battle, but came up short in the final seconds.
Kadie Bailey had 19 points to pace the Lady Warriors, while Scarlett Zeoli had 11 points.
Boys
Elizabethton 73, Morristown West 56
The Cyclones used a quarter start to roll to a win over Morristown West.
Elizabethton jumped out early and raced to a 19-5 advantage in the first eight minutes, and turned the lead to 20 points by the half.
West was able to trim a few points off the EHS lead in the third quarter, but Elizabethton took care of business to prevent a rally.
Jake Roberts had 22 points to lead the way, while Nicholas Wilson added 16 points. Seth Carter finished with 10 points.
Unicoi County 51, Happy Valley 37
The Warriors were unable to overcome a strong defensive effort by the Blue Devils.
Happy Valley ended the first quarter trailing 15-13, but Unicoi held HV to just three points in the second quarter as the Blue Devils took a 32-16 halftime lead.
Points were hard to come by in the third as Unicoi outscored the Warriors 12-3 in the frame.
Happy Valley, however, continued to battle as they knocked 11 points off the lead but were unable to close any further.
Dakota Grindstaff had 12 points to pace Happy Valley. Cole Deakins added nine points.
North Greene 72, Unaka 53
The Rangers came up short on Friday night despite a hard-fought effort.
After NG jumped out to an 11-4 lead to open the game, the Rangers closed in with an 8-3 run that was capped by a Joseph Slagle trey. The Huskies pushed the lead back to 20-14 at the end of the quarter.
North Greene used a 13-2 run to open the second quarter, but Joe-Z Blamo and Slagle helped Unaka cut into the lead before the break.
NG led 35-25 at the half.
Landon Ramsey and Caleb Lydick opened the scoring in the third quarter as the Rangers closed the gap to five, and a Ramsey bucket just past the midpoint of the quarter cut the NG lead to three points.
North Greene, however, ended the quarter on a 9-0 run to extend the lead back out.
The Rangers continued to fight and try to rally in the final quarter but were unable to overcome the deficit.
Ramsey led Unaka with 27 points. Slagle added 11 points.
For coverage of the Cloudland-Hampton games, click here.
