By Michael Lindsay
Lady Owls Earn 20th Victory In 55-33 Win at Cumberland County
The Smith County Lady Owls (20-6, 4-2) earned their fifth consecutive victory Thursday night as they defeated the Cumberland County Lady Jets (14-10, 5-2) by a 55-33 margin.
With Cumberland County’s District 7-3A showdown at White County looming on Friday, both teams agreed to play only one half of varsity action with the second half featuring reserves.
“The first half was a really competitive half,” said Smith County head coach Matt Ferrell. “That’s a good basketball team with a shot to finish top-3 in their district. It was a good chance to get a good game against good competition right before our district tournament.”
Smith County jumped out to an 8-2 lead midway through the first quarter before Cumberland County battled back within two points at 10-8.
The Lady Jets took their fist lead of the evening with 4:30 remaining in the first half via a Wilhite three-pointer to give CCHS a 14-12 advantage.
Smith County raced back out to a 19-14 lead via a Chloe Collins basket with 2:03 left in the first half, but Cumberland County finished the frame on a 6-0 run capped off by a Wilhite buzzer-beater to give the Lady Jets a 20-19 halftime advantage.
Wilhite scored 18 of the Lady Jets’ 20-first half points against Smith County.
“We let Wilhite get too many in the first half,” said Ferrell. “We didn’t want to double her too much off of those screens, because they can slip through and get layups. Dacy did a good job making her take tough shots, and she did a good job making those tough shots.”
Smith County’s reserves took over in the second half as they outscored Cumberland County 22-2 to take a 41-22 lead before winning by a 55-33 final score.
Up next for Cumberland County is a trip to current District 7-3A #1 seed White County (23-3, 7-0) on Friday. Smith County is off until Tuesday, when they host Watertown (18-5, 3-2).
“We have to stay locked in defensively,” said Ferrell. “We’ve done a better job the last few weeks of really locking in defensively and understanding what we’re trying to do with each game plan.”
Cumberland County Boys Take Down Smith County, 65-59; Triston Futrell Nails 5 Three-Pointers In Victory
The Cumberland County Jets (8-18, 2-5) got back in the win column Thursday night as they defeated the Smith County Owls (10-16, 4-2) by a 65-59 margin.
“We knew it was going to be played within a few possessions,” said Cumberland County head coach Christian Goodwin. “Two young but up-and-coming teams and coach Layne Bussell does a really good job over there. I thought we could’ve done some things to separate in the third quarter, but credit to them; 50/50 balls were theirs. With a young group of kids, it’s good to get into a good environment and close game and close it out.”
Cumberland County freshman Triston Futrell led the Jets with 18 points including 5 three-pointers.
“Tristian is special,” said Goodwin. “He’s such a hard worker and the net didn’t move on those three shots.”
Sol Sitton tacked on 15 points for the Jets followed by 13 for Andrew Dennis.
After a back-and-forth start, Futrell hit three three-pointers from the right corner on three consecutive possessions to give Cumberland County an 18-10 lead with 2:48 remaining in the opening frame.
The Jets took a 22-16 lead into the second quarter before the Owls pulled back within two points via a Lucas Cornwell basket to make the score 31-29 at halftime.
A Brady Reagan three-pointer with 2:26 left in the third quarter gave Cumberland County an 8-point lead at 43-35, but Smith County battled back to within four points by the end of the frame at 46-42.
Smith County retook their first lead since the opening minutes of the first quarter with 6:25 remaining as a Greyson Banka free throw gave the Owls a 47-46 advantage.
Cumberland County retook the lead before a Gage Gibbs three-pointer tied the game again at 52-52 with 3:13 remaining, but the Jets answered 14 seconds later as Sitton connected on a trey to give CCHS a 55-52 lead with 2:59 to go.
Sitton followed the three-pointer with a steal and transition layup on the ensuing possession to give his team a 57-52 lead with 2:45 left.
Smith County cut their deficit to two points (61-59) with less than a minute to go, but got no closer as Cumberland County held them off to win by a 65-59 final score.
“It was good to see Andrew Dennis go 3-3 from the free-throw line,” said Goodwin. “When they took a 1-point lead in the fourth and we had to go to the bench, Asher Mifflin brought a lot of energy and I was proud of that spark. It was a total team effort.”
Up next for Smith County is a home game on Tuesday against Watertown (8-15, 1-4). Cumberland County has a quick turnaround as they travel to White County (10-14, 3-4) on Friday for a District 7-3A showdown with the Warriors.
“White County is a really good basketball team and coach Eric Mitchell does a really good job,” said Goodwin. “They’ve changed some things up the last week or two and that’ll pose some issues. That gym will be rocking and hopefully we can carry some momentum from tonight.”
