By Michael Lindsay
The Cookeville Lady Cavaliers are back in the region semifinal round for the fifth consecutive season as they defeated Oakland in Friday’s Region 4-4A quarterfinals, 66-42.
“I feel like we played really well in the first half, but came out a little flat in the second half,” said Cookeville head coach Jamie Gillies. “We got it back together and bounced back in the fourth.”
A pair of double-doubles led the way for Cookeville as Allie Gillies posted 14 points and 13 rebounds along with 11 points and 16 rebounds from Macy Hudson. Cara Lee Gilbert led Cookeville in scoring with 17 points.
Cookeville opened the contest on an 8-0 run and scored 19 first-quarter points to lead 19-8 entering the second.
Allie Gillies opened the second quarter with back-to-back and-ones to extend Cookeville’s lead to 25-8 less than a minute into the frame. The Lady Cavaliers extended their lead to 20 points by halftime as a Callie Reeder basket gave them a 39-19 halftime lead.
“We turned our defense into offense in the first half,” said Gillies. “Getting some transition points is big, then Callie came in off the bench and played well.”
The third quarter was all defense as Oakland outscored the Lady Cavs 7-5 in the frame to cut Cookeville’s lead to 44-26 entering the fourth quarter.
“We had shots, we just didn’t make them,” said Gillies. “There were some 50/50 balls we didn’t get and we talked about that; in big games, we have to get those and make easy shots.”
Oakland pulled within 12 points early in the fourth before Cookeville pushed their lead back out to 18 with 2:49 left. Cookeville held on from there to win by a 66-42 final score.
Up next for Cookeville is the Region 4-4A semifinal round on Monday at Lebanon High School against District 8-4A champion Blackman, who enters the contest at 23-3 overall.
“We’re just playing them in a different order,” said Gillies. “We didn’t necessarily want to play them in the semis, but if you want to win a region championship you’ve got to beat the best teams.”
