By Michael Lindsay
The UC #5 Cumberland County Lady Jets punched their ticket to the District 7-3A tournament semifinals Tuesday evening as they defeated Stone Memorial in the quarterfinal round, 45-34.
Tuesday’s win didn’t come without struggle as the #3-seed Lady Jets (22-7) trailed #6 Stone Memorial (8-22) by nine points in the first half.
“I’m really proud of our girls for responding,” said Cumberland County head coach Kim Cram-Torres. “Credit goes to Stone; they came out and played hard like we knew they would. They gave us all we could handle.”
Senior Lady Jet point guard Emery Baragona led her team with 15 points along with 10 from senior Jorja Anderson. Stone Memorial was led by Kailee Waldo and Rachel Houston, who posted 8 points each.
Both teams were dialed in defensively early as they ended the first period tied at 6.
Stone Memorial took control early in the second quarter as the Lady Panthers opened the frame with a 9-0 run to take a 15-6 lead less than 3 minutes into the frame.
Lady Jet senior Abby Houston broke her team’s scoring drought via a layup with 4:08 left until halftime, sparking an 11-4 CCHS run to end the first half trailing by 2 (19-17).
“We’ve played the second most difficult schedule in 3A; we’ve been in that position before,” Cram-Torres said. “We came in at halftime and said ‘we’ve been here before’ and that was reassuring for our players.”
After halftime, Stone Memorial pushed their lead out to 21-17 via a Kortney Headrick layup before the Lady Jets battled back to take a 23-21 lead on an Anderson three-pointer with 5:19 remaining in the third quarter.
Stone Memorial answered with a Rachel Houston 3-pointer on the ensuing possession to retake a 24-23 lead.
Following the three-pointer, neither team would find the bottom of the net for almost 3 minutes until a double-technical resulted in two free throws for both sides. Baragona made two for CCHS while Headrick made one for the Lady Panthers, tying the game at 25 with 2:27 left in the third quarter.
Cumberland County flipped a switch offensively following the technicals as the Lady Jets reeled off 8 points in a 1-minute stretch to take a 33-25 lead with 1:27 left in the third. Baragona converted a transition layup before Abby Houston and Grace Baldwin sank three-pointers in the outburst.
“Our girls are good about staying together, and it lit a fire under us,” Cram-Torres said. “I’m proud of our girls for responding the way that they did by making plays.”
The Lady Jets entered the fourth quarter ahead 33-25. Their lead quickly jumped to double digits (35-25) on a Baragona layup to start the fourth period.
“Our experience was great in that stretch,” Cram-Torres said. “We always want to play at a fast pace, but I was proud of girls for knowing the clock was on our side.”
Cumberland County pushed their lead to 14 (39-25) in the fourth quarter before eventually winning by a 45-34 final score.
The Lady Jets advance to Saturday’s District 7-3A semifinals as they’ll face defending Class 3A state champion Upperman at Tennessee Tech University at 7 p.m.
Cumberland County (45): Emery Baragona 15, Jorja Anderson 10, Abby Houston 6, Aliyah Hawkins 6, Jalynn Baldwin 5, Grace Baldwin 3
Stone Memorial (34): Kailee Waldo 8, Rachel Houston 8, Adison Howard 7, Kortney Headrick 7, Ashley Whittenburg 3, Lily Hinch 1
