by Rusty Ellis
The January 25 edition of the UC Top 5 is here, and it brings a big shakeup to the girls side of the rankings. With White County taking down both Livingston Academy and Upperman this week, the Warriorettes find themselves skyrocketing up the rankings,
The Top 5 is revealed every week on the UCR Basketball Coaches Show, presented by Fire & Vine.
Complete rankings are available BELOW:
Girls
1. Cookeville (19-3)
The Lady Cavs have continued their excellent play this season with wins over LaVergne and Stewart’s Creek, both without sophomore star Allie Gillies. It’s allowed Cookeville to show their depth off, while also not rushing Gillies back, as players like Emma Horner and Macy Hudson have stepped up in her absence to help give the Lady Cavs some more scoring punch. Add in Cara Lee Gilbert, Charlie Roby and Isabel Garcia playing at a high level, the two meetings with Lebanon this week should be fun to watch.
2. White County (23-2)
Sparta holds strong at the number-two spot, strengthening their grip on it with a revenge win over Stone on Tuesday to go along with a dominant win over DeKalb County on Friday. Ava Jones has turned up her level of play all season, and has helped to form a devastating 1-2 punch in the post with Celeste Reed. The Warriorettes’ guard trio of Lakelyn Grasty, Bella Winningham and Gracie Clark have helped solidify Sparta’s standing in not just the Upper Cumberland, but the entirety of the 3A classification.
3. Upperman (21-3)
The Lady Bees look in midseason form at one of the most important times of the season, earning two gritty wins over much-improved Stone Memorial and previously-ranked Livingston Academy. Upperman will now turn their attention to DeKalb County on Friday, before closing the season with both the return game with Sparta, and a home-and-home with Cumberland County. Those last three could have a massive impact on the 7-3A standings.
4. York Institute (16-5)
York’s won their last three games, all in District 5-2A play, and the Dragonettes appear to be back and rolling. Smith County pushed them in their meeting on Monday, as the Dragonettes held just a three-point lead early in the fourth, but closed the game on a tremendous run to seal the victory. Regardless of where they fall in this top-5, one thing’s for sure: this is a dangerous team in the 2A classification, and we’re certainly not overlooking them.
5. Pickett County (16-2)
Don’t look now, but the Lady Bobcats have won 12 games in a row and are well on their way to securing their spot as not just the one-seed in the 7-A tournament, but also a spot in the region tournament. Ella Kate Keisling and Zoey Nicholas each scored 19 points in Pickett’s dominant win over RBS on Tuesday, and with a win against Clarkrange on Friday, the Lady Bobcats will have all, but locked up that top seed.
Honorable mentions: Cumberland County
Boys
1. Cookeville (20-3)
The Cavaliers maintained their stranglehold on the number-one spot on this list, thanks to an overtime win at Stewart’s Creek and a gritty win over LaVergne. The latter is the interesting one, as it showed off Cookeville’s ability to win in both a high-scoring game (the 79 points they scored in the first meeting was the most LaVergne’s given up) and a defensive shut-down game (the 28 points LaVergne scored in the second meeting were their fewest of the season). It appears Cookeville might be on a crash-course to meet Siegel in an eventual region title game, but first, they’ll have to finish out against Lebanon this week.
2. Upperman (19-4)
It was another classic indeed between the Bees and Stone Memorial on Friday, as Brayden Roberts banked in a three at the buzzer to give the Bees the pole position for the moment in the standings. Upperman then followed it up with a runaway win over Livingston Academy, as Bobby McWilliams has this team playing some really good basketball at the right time.
3. Stone Memorial (15-8)
Stone had to pick themselves off the mat quickly after the stunner in Baxter, and they responded quite nicely with a gut-check win at DeKalb County on Saturday before winning the return game against Sparta on Tuesday. Cade Capps put up 42 points in Smithville, as you can just add that game to the list of impressive performances the junior has had at this level. The Panthers will now turn their attention to Livingston Academy on Friday.
4. Pickett County (16-4)
Much like on the girls side, Pickett County is red-hot in boys basketball too. After Jacob Amonett scored a career-high 41 points to lead the team to a win over Clarkrange on Saturday, the Bobcats had to battle adversity against Red Boiling Springs. After trailing by 10 early, Nathaniel Cobb gave the Bobcats a much-needed spark and managed to come back to stay undefeated in district play. Next week’s game against Gordonsville will be crucial in determining the seeding for the district tournament.
5. York Institute (13-7)
The Dragons are back in the Top 5 after a 5-0 start to district play and big wins over Jackson County, Monterey and Smith County. It feels like York has adjusted properly to the personnel they have and Carter Gibson has been a major development off the bench. Add in Heath Wattenbarger and Bryson Bilbrey making big plays all over the floor, and the Dragons are humming along nicely.