Cloudland picked up a league sweep over a county foe Tuesday night.
The Lady ‘Landers methodically pulled away for a 59-30 win over Unaka, while the ‘Landers used a big third quarter to pull out to a 66-52 over the Rangers.
In the boys’ game, points were hard to come by early on.
Jackson Deyton hit a basket along with a Joe-Z Blamo free throw as the Rangers took a 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter, but Gage McKinney countered with a jumper and a free throw to tie things up at 3-3. Eli Morgan broke the tie with a 3-pointer, but Johnny Douglas hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to tie things up at 6-6 after a quarter of play.
The teams traded shots early in the second before Morgan sparked a quick 8-0 Cloudland run that included buckets from Cayden Clarke and Ryan Sexton. Unaka, however, countered with a 7-2 run of their own with buckets from Blamo and Douglas to pull within four points.
Cloudland pushed the lead to 25-18 at the break as Nick Caraway drained a 3-pointer right before the buzzer.
The ‘Landers took full control in the third quarter.
Auston Caraway opened the second half scoring for Cloudland, and the ‘Landers opened the quarter on a 14-3 run to get some separation with the run capped by a Jacob Street bucket.
Unaka used buckets from Blamo to stop the run as CHS held a 44-28 lead after three quarters of play.
The Rangers, however, battled back to open the fourth quarter with eight points as Austin Lambert and Douglas hit key shots to close the lead to eight points.
Cloudland answered with a quick 7-2 run to stop the run and secure the win.
Sexton and Morgan led Cloudland with 14 points apiece, while Caraway finished with 12 points.
Unaka was paced by Blamo’s 13 points, while Mason Wilson tallied 11 points. Lambert had 10 points in the game.
In the girls’ game, Ella Benfield and the Lady ‘Landers set the tone early.
Benfield went to work in the paint for Cloudland with 11 early points, while the CHS defense limited shots from Unaka in the opening quarter.
That allowed the Lady ‘Landers to take an 11-5 lead after a quarter of play with Lyndsey Ramsey scoring the five Unaka points.
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Ryan Turbyfill midway through the second answered a Ramey 3-pointer to spark a 10-2 Cloudland run with Emma Taylor scoring the Unaka basket.
The teams traded buckets to end the half as Cloudland held a 26-13 advantage at the half.
The second half continued to be much the same as the Lady ‘Landers reeled off nine straight points after Ramsey opened the quarter with a trey.
From there, Cloudland continued to have momentum and stop any thought of an Unaka comeback.
Benfield finished the game with 25 points, while Saharra McKinney had 15 points. Kendall Birchfield and Turbyfill had six points apiece.
Ramsey led the Lady ‘Rangers with 20 points. Haley Taylor had five points.
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