Coverage of York athletics presented in part by our friends at Beaty Lumber.
Story and photos by Kailee Means
The York Dragonettes and Dragons opened the 2021-2022 season in dominant fashion, sweeping their doubleheader against Kingston.
The York Dragonettes opened up their season with a 75-28 win against Kingston on Tuesday night in Jamestown.
The Dragonettes did not let off the gas at any point in the game using a physical style and only allowing Kingston to score single digits within each quarter.
“I thought overall, after that first minute or two we kind of tightened up better on defense,” said York head coach Michael Green. “We’re definitely physical…This year I think overall we are a physical team of guards and posts, and within our district we’re going to have to be physical.”
Junior Gabby Beaty led the team with 30 point. Sophomore Josie Linder was the second leading scorer with 12 points.
Freshman Reese Beaty had 4 points for the night. This was Reese’s first basketball game at the high school level. Green said while she may not have scored an enormous amount of points she still contributed to her team in more ways than scoring.
“She had a few little hiccups and I got on to her a few times….but you know she was solid,” said Green. “Emy Crabtree had a great game, Gabby was solid, Laci came in and knocked down some three’s and Josie Linder came in and got big minutes and I thought she looked pretty solid. It was a good night for all of us experience wise.”
The Dragonettes will continue their 21-22 campaign as they face Maryville and Bearden at Lakeway Christian on Saturday.
“We’ve got Maryville Saturday and we’ve got Bearden right after,” said Green. “Maryville is a 4A tough school and Bearden is a consistent top team in the state, they are everybody’s pick to be the best team in the state and we saw them Saturday and they are solid from top to bottom. We’re going to have our work cut out for us, but it’s going to be good. I wanted to schedule tough outside of the district and it is about as tough as it gets this Saturday.”
The York Dragons opened up the 2021-2022 high school basketball season with a 73-55 win over Kingston.
The Dragons and Kingston battled back-and-forth through the first quarter with. Head coach Rodney Pile said once they settled down, everything started to flow and the Dragons executed how they needed to.
“We came out a little bit too hyped up,” said Pile. “Everybody on this team is wanting to do good and so what one of our problems is our shot selection, especially taking bad shots. I thought that was what we did in the first quarter…we were able to battle out of that, come back and started getting some stops on defense and started taking the ball to the hole. Their final score was 55 so that means after the first quarter we gave up 33 points and that is championship basketball in the last three quarters.”
Senior Nic Smith led the Dragons with 29 points while going 5-6 from the foul line. Sophomore Zach Byrd was the second leading scorer for the Dragons. Senior Jonathan Heddings and sophomore Jackson Conaster both scored 10 points.
The Dragons made a statement when they came out physical and electric after that first quarter and held Kingston to 6 points in the second quarter.
“This team has been very hungry and ever since the end of last year they are wanting to prove York’s boys basketball can do something,” said Pile. “This is my first year with York as the head coach, but Nic and Jon have been to three straight substates and their sophomore year they made it to the state tournament but didn’t get to play in it. They are very driven to win and very competitive.”
The York Dragons will travel to Sparta to take on White County at 6 p.m. on Friday night.
“Good thing is we got a win and another good thing is it’s early,” said Pile. We are nowhere near mid-season form, and some teams come out ready to go to Murfreesboro the next day and we’re not. We are going to get there, but we’ve got to learn some things and play within ourselves and play better. I think this team is always trying to go out there and do good.”
