The Elizabethton girls basketball team continued to stay in the battle for the No. 2 seed in the Three Rivers Conference.
The Lady Cyclones held on to take a 52-50 win over Sullivan East in Bluff City. In the boys’ game, the Cyclones continued to set the pace atop the Three Rivers with an 84-58 victory.
For the Elizabethton girls, it was a nail biter from the get go.
East took a slim 13-12 lead as the Lady Patriots saw Hayley Grubb score eight points. McKendra Norris and Morgan Headrick hit key shots for EHS in the second quarter to help the Lady Cyclones stay with the homestanding Lady Patriots. Elizabethton trailed 24-23 at the break.
In the third quarter, EHS started to flip the script.
Five Lady Cyclones reached the scorebook in the third quarter as the balanced attacked tied the game going to the final stanza. EHS jumped ahead early in the quarter and led by as many as eight points before East closed the gap. Elizabethton, however, saw Kaylen Shell and Headrick led the way to secure the win in the final moments.
Headrick had a team-high 19 points, while Torrie Roberts capped a strong game with 10 points. Norris and Shell had nine and seven points, respectively.
Grubb led East with 27 points.
In the boys’ game, Elizabethton found a groove and never looked back.
After the Patriots took a 13-10 lead after the first eight minutes, the Cyclones saw the offense get cranking as they raced to a 33-25 lead at the half.
Elizabethton continued to control the game by outscoring East 21-14 in the third quarter. The final stanza saw EHS built a 30-point lead to erase any thoughts of a Sullivan East comeback.
Parker Hughes led EHS with 18 points, while Eric Wilson had 15 points. Evan Perkins and Nico Ashley tallied 13 points apiece.
