by Rusty Ellis
The Upperman Lady Bees used a career night from freshman Gracie Butler and lockdown defense in the second half to take down Stone Memorial 59-30 in Baxter on Friday night.
Butler got things going early with three first-quarter three-pointers, leading the Lady Bees to a 19-6 lead at the end of the first.
Stone battled back in the second quarter, trimming the lead as low as eight points, but Butler ended the first half on another strong note with a putback at the buzzer to extend the Lady Bee lead to 32-19 at the break.
The third quarter is ultimately where Upperman pulled away, as they outscored the Lady Panthers 11-2 to push the lead to 21, and they cruised to the 29-point victory from there.
Butler finished with a game-high 19 points, while Abigail Johnson and Jayla Cobb added 16 and 13, respectively. Kortney Headrick led the Lady Panthers with nine points.
For head coach Dana McWilliams, this game was as much about Upperman’s defense as it was anything else, and she attributed that to her team’s energy level right out of the gate.
“I thought we played really well, we came out ready to play right away,” McWilliams said. “We’ve not played too many home games this year, so that was exciting for all of them to get back and play in front of the home crowd.”
Defensively, the Lady Bees played one of their best quarters of the season in third. They held Stone to just two points and limited second-chance opportunities for the Lady Panthers. McWilliams says it was one of the things they talked about at the half, and she was pleased with how they responded.
“I thought our defense was okay in the first half, but I thought we could improve a little bit,” McWilliams said. “We talked about it at halftime on making some adjustments…they came out locked in for the second and were ready to go.”
After the game, McWilliams was honored by officially having the court named after her. Though she’s known about it for some time, McWilliams still admits that it doesn’t seem real.
“It’s a little bit overwhelming,” McWilliams said. “The best part about tonight was seeing all of my former players. That’s really special to me, they mean a lot to me. Getting to share that moment with them is the most important thing.”
The Stone Memorial Panthers prevented the Upperman sweep on Friday with a dominant 64-41 win over the Bees.
After taking a 16-10 lead into the second quarter, Stone came alive at both ends by outscoring Upperman 21-6 to blow the game open and take a 37-16 advantage into the halftime break.
The third quarter saw them push the lead even further thanks to a 16-11 scoring edge, and the Panthers closed out their fourth consecutive district victory in the fourth.
Matthew Bilbrey led the way with a game-high 18 points, while Cade Capps scored 15 points of his own. Brayden Roberts led Upperman with nine points.
The win means a lot for Stone as far as the district standings are concerned, and head coach Neil Capps was more than pleased with how his team played in a tough road environment.
“Coming into Upperman and getting any kind of win is big,” Capps said. “I think (UHS head coach Bobby McWilliams) is one of the best in the state of Tennessee, regardless of class…we’re really pleased with it, it’ll help us in the district standings. We defended really well, and we executed offensively really well.”
The lockdown second quarter proved to be a huge spark for Stone, and Capps says it all started with good communication.
“We communicated very well defensively, and that’s not easy for a group of teenage boys,” Capps said. “You’re trying to get them to talk and get through screens and help and recover…they did a really good job for that eight-minute period. If we can be more consistent with that for 32 minutes, I like what our future looks like.”
Stone will head to Macon County on Tuesday for their next contest, while Upperman will hit the road to Crossville to take on Cumberland County.
