Unaka left it all on the court Saturday night.
The Lady Rangers all but erased an 18-point deficit but were unable to get in front in a 67-52 loss to Coalfield in the Class A sectionals on Stoney Creek. With the loss, Unaka’s season comes to a close.
UHS found itself in an early hole.
Coalfield came out of the gate firing as the Lady Yellow Jackets scored the first 11 points of the game before Kalli Shepard drained a 3-pointer. Michelle Shields answered a Coalfield bucket with a 3-pointer of her own, but Coalfield held a 21-8 advantage. The teams traded shots over the final minute as CHS held a 26-13 lead after a quarter of play.
After Mattie Beard and Gracie Davis opened the second quarter with buckets for Coalfield to push the lead to 31-13, Unaka went to work.
Keyona Hague, Brooklyn Campbell, and Arianna Sutherland hit shots for an 8-0 Unaka ran, while Emma Whitaker added a bucket to push it to a 10-2 run. Shields countered a quick Coalfield bucket, but the Lady Yellow Jackets held a 43-30 lead at the half.
Shields opened the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers, and a Campbell jumper cut the Unaka deficit to five points. After a Coalfield bucket from Lily Wright, Whitaker converted an old-fashioned 3-point play to pull Unaka within four points with 4:36 left in the third. Coalfield, however, used a 7-1 run to get a little separation and take a 52-45 lead into the final quarter.
Unaka kept battling as they cut the lead to seven points, but was unable to get any closer as Coalfield secured the win by scoring the final eight points.
Unaka was paced by Shields’ 16 points, while Shepard added 10 points. Sutherland and Campbell scored eight points apiece. Whitaker had seven points.
Wright led Coalfield with 18 points. Davis scored 17 points, while Lilly Claire Lowe and Mattie Beard had 13 and 12 points, respectively.
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