The Unaka boys’ basketball team was red-hot in the second half on Tuesday night.
The Rangers stormed to an 86-54 victory over Cloudland in Roan Mountain in District 1-A action.
In the girls’ game, Cloudland used a terrific defensive effort to take a 49-14 win over the Lady Rangers.
The varsity nightcap saw a nearly even first quarter as shots from Unaka’s Devin Ramsey and Cloudland’s Victor Hicks kept the teams close. Unaka held a 15-11 lead after a quarter play.
The Rangers opened the second quarter in a big way.
Unaka outscored Cloudland 13-2 in the opening four minutes of the quarter – including eight points from Ramsey in the stretch. The ‘Landers countered with shots from Gage McKinney and Elijah Blair to cut the lead to 35-24 at the half.
The Rangers heated up from the floor in the second half.
Unaka methodically extended the lead throughout the third quarter. After Hicks pulled Cloudland back to within 11 points midway through the quarter, Will Sexton scored 11 points in the final two minutes of the frame to give Unaka a 60-30 lead after three-quarters of play.
Cloudland continued to battle, but the hot-shooting of the Rangers erased any thought of a CHS comeback with six 3-pointers in the frame.
Sexton led Unaka with 24 points, while Joesph Slagle and Ramsey finished with 22 points apiece.
Joe Blamo added 11 points.
Hicks led Cloudland with 18 points. Bentley Gilbert had 13 points, while McKinney added seven points.
Girls
Cloudland controlled the game from the opening tip.
The Lady ‘Landers slowed moved out to a 13-4 lead after eight minutes of play with key plays from Jasmine Birchfield and Ella Benfield.
Points were hard to come by for both squads in the second stanza as Cloudland pushed the lead out to 16 points with a pair of 3-pointers from Gracie Freeman and a jumper from Birchfield.
Unaka hit their first field goal of the game when Lyndie Ramsey knocked down a 3-pointer in the closing seconds to cut the CHS lead to 20-7 at the half.
Cloudland’s offensive attack got things going in the third quarter by going on a 12-0 run before Ramsey hit another jumper.
CHS led 35-9 after three complete quarters.
The Lady Rangers were able to get some shots in the fourth quarter but Cloudland was able to keep the Lady Rangers at bay.
Cloudland was paced by Freeman’s 13 points. Birchfield had 10 points for Cloudland, while E. Benfield had eight points.
Ramsey led Unaka with seven points. Trinity Houghton and Julie Simerly had three and two points, respectively.
For more pictures, click here.
