Clarkrange, Smith County Split Saturday Hall Of Fame Action; Sophomore Gage Gibbs Pours In 28 To Lead Owls

By Michael Lindsay

A day full of Hall of Fame basketball action in Clarkrange on Saturday was capped off by a pair of Clarkrange/Smith County showdowns as the Lady Buffaloes defeated the Lady Owls 44-43 followed by a 76-57 win by Smith County in the boys game.

Girls

Clarkrange improved to 3-0 Saturday evening as they held off a late Smith County run to defeat the Lady Owls, 44-43.

“There were ebbs and flows to this one,” said Clarkrange head coach Lamar Rogers. “Smith County has a really good team with a lot of size. Our press hurt them and their press hurt us. They made a good run at us and give them credit for it.”

Kady Hopkins poured in 23 points to lead all scorers in the girls game along with 10 points from point guard Lydia Phillips. Chloe Collins led Smith County with 15 points followed by Emry Jones with 10.

Smith County jumped out to an early 11-6 lead via a Dacey Claywell three-pointer with 3 minutes remaining in the first period. Clarkrange chipped away at their deficit as back-to-back three-pointers from Katelyn Cottle and Hopkins tied the game at 16 points each before a pair of Hopkins free throws gave the Lady Buffaloes an 18-16 advantage.

The Lady Owls tacked on a free throw before a Phillips three-pointer at the buzzer gave the Lady Buffaloes a 21-17 lead after two quarters.

Clarkrange extended their lead to double digits with 6:48 left until halftime as Hopkins completed a three-point play to give her team a 29-17 lead as part of a 23-6 run over a 4:12 stretch. The Lady Buffaloes led 32-23 at halftime.

Smith County cut their deficit to 7 points (35-28) early in the third quarter before Clarkrange extended their lead to 39-28 entering the fourth quarter.

The Lady Owls weren’t done yet as they opened the fourth quarter on a 12-2 run to trim their deficit to 41-40 via a Jones steal and layup with 3:03 remaining.

Smith County retook the lead with less than 40 seconds remaining as an offensive rebound led to a Jones floater with 37 seconds left, giving the Lady Owls a 42-41 advantage.

“We did some things we weren’t supposed to,” said Rogers. “We still want to be aggressive late in the game but got a little tentative. We had to go out and make a play. We missed a bunch of free throws.”

Clarkrange tied the game at 42 on the ensuing possession via a Sophia Sitton free throw with 27 seconds left. The Lady Buffaloes then got a defensive stop that led to a Payton Manis backdoor layup off a Chloe Rogers assist with 10 seconds remaining to give Clarkrange a 44-42 lead. Smith County tacked on a late free throw to pull within one point at 44-43, but got no closer as Clarkrange held on for the one-point win.

The Lady Buffaloes improve to 3-0 and are scheduled to play next on Friday at Ezell-Harding in Antioch against Eagleville and Lipscomb Academy. The Lady Owls fall to 1-2 and are scheduled to host Cumberland County on Tuesday.

Boys

The Smith County Owls picked up a 19-point win over the Clarkrange Buffaloes to cap off the evening Saturday as they won 76-57 behind a 28-point performance from sophomore guard Gage Gibbs.

“Gage is a fantastic shooter,” said Smith County head coach Layne Bussell. “He had 30 in our first game (on Saturday) and 18 against Pickett County. He can absolutely fill it up from three and he led the way tonight.

“I thought we played well in the first quarter, but only scored 5 points in the second,” added Bussell. “I’m proud of my boys; we’ve got a lot of young guys that have never had any experience. Three freshmen and two sophomores started tonight.”

Freshman Cooper Williams tacked on 22 points for the Owls while Bryton Swallows led Clarkrange with 18 points.

Clarkrange jumped out to an 8-2 lead early in the contest via a Noah Gunter three pointer. Smith County answered with a 14-0 run over the next 2:18 to take a 16-8 lead over the Buffaloes with 4:19 left in the first period.

The Owls continued their run through the end of the first quarter as they held a 28-15 lead entering the second quarter.

Clarkrange opened the second quarter on a run of their own as the Buffaloes reeled off 14 consecutive points to open the second quarter and take a 29-28 lead via a Gunter steal and layup with 4:29 remaining until halftime.

Smith County weathered the storm and took a 33-31 lead into the break.

“We were trying to shift defense to try and find something to stop the hemorrhaging,” said Bussell. “We’re struggling on defense right now and not as good as I’d like for us to be.”

The teams traded one-possession leads early in the third quarter until a Morgan Sinclair three-pointer gave Smith County a 53-47 lead with 1:44 remaining in the third quarter. The Owls led 57-52 entering the fourth period.

Smith County controlled the fourth quarter from the start as they pushed their lead out to double digits at 62-52 via a pair of Williams free throws with 6:03 remaining. The Owls never looked back as they outscored Clarkrange 19-5 in the fourth quarter to win by a 76-57 final score.

“Our first focus moving forward is defensively,” said Bussell. “We’re scoring the ball well, but we’re not going to beat better teams if we can’t stop them late. We have to be in the right positions and guard the ball better.”

Smith County improves to 2-1 overall and is set to host Cumberland County on Tuesday while Clarkrange is set to play Wednesday at the Brady’s Thanksgiving Classic at Van Buren County against Monterey at 7:30 p.m.