By Kailee Dick
Girls
A solid performance on both ends led the Cookeville Lady Cavaliers to a 55-40 victory over the Webb Lady Spartans Tuesday evening.
“I am really glad with the way we came out,” said Cookeville Head Coach Jamie Gillies. “We shot really well, and I feel like we defended very well especially early.”
Sophomore guard Allie Gillies led the Lady Cavs with 18 points along with 11 by Charlie Roby.
Cookeville took an early 10-4 lead as Allie Gillies drained a three-pointer with 2 minutes left in the first quarter.
Gillies stayed hot as she again drilled a three to give the Lady Cavs a 24-15 lead with 1:33 left in the first half. Cookeville held Webb scoreless the rest of the half while the Lady Cavs added five more on to lead 29-15 at halftime.
Webb rallied out of halftime as they opened the third quarter on a run against the Lady Cavs. Cookeville withstood the Lady Spartans’ run as an Isabel Garcia layup with 4:15 left in the third quarter pushed her team’s the lead back out to 10. Cookeville held a 43-31 advantage entering the fourth quarter.
“Coming out of the third quarter, they go on an 8-0 run, and I felt like we responded to that,” Gillies said. “We had not seen that yet and I did not want to take a timeout yet because I wanted to see how they would respond to it. I took the timeout, they reacted to it, and we were able to come out and get a couple of big shots and a couple of big stops.”
A Roby three-pointer early in the fourth quarter extended her team’s lead to 46-31 before the Lady Cavs closed out to win by a 55-40 margin.
“We are meshing well and whoever steps up, this team just wants the win,” Gillies added. “You’ll see it when Isabel made a shot, we are going nuts to give her high-fives. I feel like we are starting to really come together and find each other.”
Cookeville (55): Allie Gillies 18, Charlie Roby 11, Isabel Garcia 9, Cara Lee Gilbert 8, Paige Hamilton 5, Emma Horner 2, and Macy Hudson 2
Boys
Cookeville’s boys finished the sweep of Webb as they defeated the Spartans 64-60 behind 21 points from Colin Ayers.
The Cavaliers started out slow as they trailed Webb by eight points at the end of the first quarter, 18-10.
Cookeville responded early in during the second quarter as a 12-2 lead capped off by an Ayers floater gave the Cavaliers a 22-20 lead. The Cavs went into the half tied with the Spartans 29-29.
“One of the things we talked about before the game and at halftime was that we have to play like juniors and seniors,” said Cookeville Head Coach Josh Heard. “During those stretches, we came out like we weren’t ready to start the game and weren’t ready to start the third quarter, but we stayed poised and we played like juniors and seniors.”
The third quarter was a back and forth battle between both teams as a Joshua Heard three-pointer gave Cookeville a 46-45 lead. over the Spartans. Webb held a 47-46 lead over the Cavaliers entering the fourth quarter.
Cookeville stayed within striking distance in the final period as a Bennett Reeves jumper gave the Cavs a four-point lead with 3:25 left.
The Cavalier defense stepped up and got multiple stops as Ayers tacked on two more points with 2:25 left to put Cookeville ahead 56-50.
A pair of Heard free throws with 1:27 left extended the lead to 59-53 as the Cavs held off Webb to finished out their 64-60 victory.
“One of the biggest key factors for us is having a leader on the court,” said coach Heard. “A leader that can handle the ball, call plays on the court, and can just see things that coaches see. Late in the game, having Colin Ayers take care of the ball and draw the ball to the rim a couple of times was big.
“Also, just having all of these guys playing together as seniors is bittersweet for me,” coach Heard added. “This is the last time I will see them play together, but for the most part this is what they have been waiting for. They have been waiting to play together at least for one year, and this is the year for them.”
Cookeville is scheduled to host Farragut on Friday.
Cookeville (64): Colin Ayers 21, Jalen Heard 11, Jack Oakley 9, Bennett Reeves 9, Josh Heard 7, Jaren Davis 6, Joseph Owens 1
