It was another epic battle in a county rivalry on Friday night.
Unaka outlasted Cloudland for a thrilling 46-44 victory over Cloudland inside Sonny Smith Gymnasium. In the girls’ game, the Lady ‘Landers pulled away to take a 52-23 win over the Lady Rangers.
The boys’ game was a battle from the opening tip as points were hard to come by in the opening quarter. Cloudland took a 6-2 lead after six complete minutes, and the teams traded shots down the stretch as CHS maintained an 11-9 lead after a quarter of play.
Unaka opened the second quarter on a 7-2 as the Rangers took a 16-13 lead early in the quarter. Cloudland, however, answered with buckets from Nick Caraway and Landon Barnett to regain the lead.
John Harden pushed the Rangers back in front before the ‘Landers reeled off seven quick points to end the half to take a 26-21 lead into the locker room at the half.
Harden opened the third quarter quickly for Unaka as he had all eight points in an 8-2 Unaka run. The teams traded shots with Kingston Cole lifting Cloudland to a 33-31 lead after three complete quarters.
Mason Wilson drained a 3-pointer for the fourth quarter for UHS. Cloudland, however, countered with a Cooper Smith three-pointer and a bucket from Cole to take a four-point lead, but Harden kickstarted a 6-0 Ranger run to take a 40-38 lead with four minutes to play.
Caraway tied the game with 3:23 to play, but Aiden Walsh and Harden hit back-to-back shots to regain the lead. Cloudland had a shot in the closing seconds to tie or take the win but was unable to knock down the shot.
Harden had 20 points to lead Unaka, while Wilson had 10 points. Jackson Deyton and Walsh had four points apiece.
Caraway had a game-high 21 points for CHs. Smith had 12 points, and Cole had seven points.
In the girl’s game, Cloudland was able to pull away for the win.
After Lauren Lund opened the scoring with an Unaka 3-pointer, Regan Blair and Izabella Christman kickstarted a 10-0 Cloudland run. That pushed CHS to a 12-4 lead after a quarter of play.
Keyona Hague and Alisha Harrel pulled Unaka within 15-9 midway through the second, but Cloudland took control with a 13-0 run to end the half.
The second half started with a 9-0 Lady ‘Lander run to leave no doubt.
Christman had a game-high 16 points to lead the way for Cloudland, and Ryan Turbyfill had 11 points. Makinna Shell and Blair had seven points each.
Katlyn Dugger and Emma Taylor led Unaka with five points apiece, while Haley Taylor and Harrell had four points apiece.
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