Unaka left it all on the court but was unable to punch its ticket to Murfreesboro Saturday night.
The Lady Rangers were unable to answer a third-quarter Coalfield run as Unaka fell 49-44 to the Lady Yellow Jackets in the Class A sectional at Coalfield.
With the loss, Unaka’s season comes to a close.
Unaka jumped out to a 7-2 lead midway through the first as Brooklyn Campbell and Kalli Shepard hit 3-pointers to help spark Unaka.
The Lady Yellow Jackets sandwiched a Lauren Lund trey to close within 10-7, but Shepard ended the quarter with a jumper to give Unaka a 12-8 lead after a quarter of play.
Neither team was able to get on the board in the opening minutes of the second quarter until CHS went on a quick 4-0 run to tie the game. However, Michelle Shields answered for Unaka with a 3-pointer on the other end to spark a 6-0 Lady Ranger run.
Coalfield scored the next six points to take its first lead of the game at 18-17, but Keyona Hague added a jumper to give UHS a 19-18 halftime advantage.
In the third quarter, Shields and Shepard hit 3-pointers as both teams went 2-for-2 on shots to open the game. Lund added her second 3-pointer of the game to give UHS a 28-22 lead with 5:37 to play.
The Lady Yellow Jackets, however, got things going. Lily Wright hit a pair of free throws and added a jumper, while Lilly Claire Lowe and Lexie Hammock added big shots as part of an 11-1 run that gave Coalfield a 33-29 lead with 3:09 left in the third.
Shields stopped the run with an Unaka bucket, and the teams traded shots to end the quarter as Coalfield maintained a 40-36 lead after three complete.
The final quarter saw Coalfield extend the advantage to eight points in the first minutes before Shepard and Shields hit shots to close the gap to two points with 4:36 left to play.
Hammock and McKinlee West hit back-to-back shots for the Lady Yellow Jackets to take a 48-42 lead with just over a minute to play. Ari Sutherland hit a big bucket for Unaka with 1:22 to close the gap to four points, but Unaka was unable to get any closer despite a hard-fought effort.
Shields led Unaka with 12 points in the game, while Shepard had 11 points. Hague and Lund finished with seven and six points, respectively.
Hammock scored a game-high 21 points to pace Coalfield, and Wright tossed in 12 points.
