Story and Photos by Kailee Means
The York Dragons and Dragonettes both earned dominant wins in their matchups against Stone Memorial on Friday night in Crossville.
The York Dragonettes defeated Stone Memorial 71-51. The Dragonettes outscored the Lady Lady Panthers 32-22 in the first half and 39-28 in the second half.
“We played hard and we played with great effort, but I still don’t think we played four complete quarters together,” said York Dragonettes assistant coach Mike Johnson. “Stone did not shoot nearly that good the first time and I’m not sure if we played them tomorrow if they would do it again, but credit to them. They hung around and made it close.”
Scoring for the Dragonettes, junior Gabby Beaty led in with 24 points, freshman Reese Beaty had 21 points, senior Sage Smith had 10 points, sophomore Emy Crabtree had 6 points, junior Ellie Leffew had 4 points, senior Laci Patton had 3 points, freshman Emily Doss had 2 points and freshman Annabeth Dunford had 1 point.
The York Dragonettes will turn their attention towards their matchup at 6 p.m. Tuesday night at Cookeville. The game will be livestreamed on the Upper Cumberland Reporter Facebook page.
“We played Bearden but Cookeville is right there with Bearden,” said Johnson. “There is nothing easy about Cookeville and we are going to have to be at the top of our game to pull out a win there.”
The York Dragons defeated Stone Memorial 55-50.
The Dragons played a back-and-forth matchup in the beginning of the game, and then started to maintain the lead throughout the remainder of the game. At the end of the first half the score was 21-20, and then the Dragons outscored the Panthers in the second half 34-30.
“We did not play our best game and neither did Stone and we know that last week the game was a lot smoother for both teams,” said York Dragons head coach Rodney Pile. “We knew this was a new game and it was totally different. It is hard playing a team that is close between each game, but I thought that both teams struggled offensively, played extremely hard on defense, but kind of a sloppy game. I am proud of how my guys kept fighting and how we prevailed through adversity.”
Scoring for the Dragons, senior Nic Smith led with 18 points, including his 1,000th point as a Dragon, sophomore Zach Bryd had 14 points, senior Jon Heddings had 12 points, junior Blaine York had 7 points and sophomore Jackson Conaster had 4 points.
The Dragons will now prepare to take on Cookeville. Tip-off will follow after the girls game.
“I don’t think we have beaten Cookeville in a while and so we need to make sure we are ready to play Tuesday night,” said Pile. “The guys need to enjoy this win tonight and we will move on to Cookeville tomorrow.”
