Cookeville, Stone Memorial Split Season Openers In Crossville; Cade Capps Pours In 37 Points

By Michael Lindsay

 

Cookeville and Stone Memorial opened their respective basketball seasons Tuesday night in Crossville as the Lady Cavaliers won 51-44 followed by a 71-47 win by the Stone Memorial boys.

Girls

Allie Gillies scored 17 points Tuesday to lead a balanced scoring effort by the Cookeville Lady Cavaliers in their 51-44 season-opening victory at Stone Memorial.

“We were ready to play and this is a tough place,” said Cookeville head coach Jamie Gillies. “Coach (Mike) Buck’s teams always shoot well here and they’re a good team. We knew we’d have a battle coming in and I’m proud of our effort.”

Charlie Roby tacked on 11 points along with 9 by Cara Lee Gilbert for the Lady Cavs while Adison Howard, Ashley Whittenburg and Ella Jane May led Stone Memorial with 12 points each.

“All of our girls can score from all levels,” said coach Gillies. “Whoever’s got a shot, that’s who we want taking it. Our girls really don’t care who scores; we’ll find that extra person.”

Stone Memorial controlled the early portions of the contest as they led 11-6 after one quarter.

The Lady Cavs fought back to tie the game at 13 points each via a Macy Hudson three-pointer with 4:37 remaining in the second quarter. The teams traded leads over the next minute until an Allie Gillies and-one gave the Lady Cavs an 18-16 advantage with 3:17 left in the frame. Cookeville didn’t look back in the first half as their lead grew to 24-16 by halftime.

“Once we got back into our defensive pressure and do what we do, we were fine,” said Gillies. “We got out of sync a little bit early, and that’s going to happen in November; we’ve got to make sure it doesn’t in December on.”

Stone Memorial stayed alive in the second half as they cut their deficit back to only 3 points (36-33) at the end of the third quarter.

Cookeville pushed their advantage back to double figures early in the fourth quarter as they opened the frame on a 9-2 run to take a 45-35 lead via a pair of Hudson free throws.

A Whittenburg basket with 31 seconds left cut Cookeville’s lead to 47-42, but the Lady Panthers would get not closer as the Lady Cavaliers closed out to win by a 51-44 final score.

Up next for each program is a game against McMinn Central as the Lady Cavaliers face them on Thursday at Roane State Community College in Harriman followed by Stone Memorial facing the Chargers on Saturday.

“We’ve got a lot to work on and figure out how to not turn the ball over,” said Gillies. “We’ve got McMinn Central on Thursday, so we’re going to learn a lot about pressure. We’re going to get better every time we’re in the gym.”

Boys

The Stone Memorial Panthers opened their season in the win column as senior Cade Capps poured in 37 points to lead his team to a 71-47 victory over Cookeville.

“I’m proud of our guys and how we came out,” said Stone Memorial head coach Neil Capps. “We manufactured a lot of points off of hustle and made a lot of plays off second chances.

“Cade couldn’t wait for this game to start,” added coach Capps, Cade’s father. “He obsesses over basketball and he makes me look like I know what I’m doing when I’ve got a guy that can go get a bucket like that. We had a lot of guys step up tonight.”

Panther guard Jack Cordell scored 22 points in his Stone Memorial debut after transferring from Clarkrange this offseason.

“Jack is a tremendous addition and he’s a relentless worker,” said Capps. “He’s got a great attitude and is coachable.”

Jaren Davis led Cookeville with 22 points followed by 9 from Jalen Denk.

A Davis transition dunk and and-one gave the Cavaliers a 10-8 lead with 4:13 remaining in the opening period. Stone Memorial caught up to the Cavaliers late in the first quarter as a Briggs Lowe steal and transition layup tied the contest at 16 to end the first frame.

The Panthers opened the second quarter on a 9-1 run as a Capps and-one with 4:03 put Stone Memorial up 25-17. Capps followed with a pair of back-to-back jumpers later in the quarter to extend Stone Memorial’s lead to 31-19 with 1:55 remaining until the break.

Capps wasn’t done there as he nailed a buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Panthers a 36-21 halftime lead.

Stone Memorial extended their lead in the third quarter to 19 points as they outscored Cookeville 21-17 in the frame to lead 57-38 entering the fourth, where they sealed the victory by a 71-47 final score.

Up next for Stone Memorial is a trip to Ensworth on Thursday while Cookeville faces McMinn Central at Roane State Community College in Harriman.