By Michael Lindsay

District 7-3A foes White County and Upperman faced off Friday in Sparta, where the Warriorettes avenged and earlier loss to the Lady Bees by a 59-44 margin while the Upperman boys stayed perfect in league action with a 64-49 win.

Girls

The second matchup between Class 3A #1-ranked White County (23-3, 4-1) went to the home team as the Warriorettes cruised to a 59-44 win over #3-ranked Upperman (18-5, 3-2) on Friday.

“I’m really proud of our kids,” said White County girls coach Michael Dodgen. “I thought we did a really good job of taking away some angles defensively in the first half. We rebounded the basketball extremely well tonight, and that was a key for us because Upperman is a very good offensive rebounding team.”

Senior guard Gracie Clark led the Warriorettes with 22 points and 14 rebounds followed by 14 points from Bella Winningham and 12 and 9 boards by Ashlyn Selby. Taylor Dolente led Upperman with 14 points and 6 rebounds.

White County took control early as they led 13-6 lead after the first quarter. The Warriorettes extended their lead to double digits (21-10) via a Winningham layup with 2:13 remaining in the second period.

White County’s wasn’t done there as they outscored Upperman 12-4 over the final 2 minutes of the first half capped off by a Winningham three-pointer to lead 33-14 at halftime.

“Everybody that went in contributed and did their job,” said Dodgen. “And when you do that, you’re going to win and you can build off of that.”

Upperman battled back in the early parts of the second half as they opened the third quarter on a 14-3 run to pull back within single digits (36-28) with 4:27 left in the third period.

“Good teams find ways to make shots and make runs, and that’s going to happen with Upperman every single time,” said Dodgen. “I have the utmost respect for Dana (McWilliams) and what she does with her program, and I have respect for her kids, because they play hard and they try to go at it.”

19The Warriorettes weathered the storm and settled back in to lead 43-31 entering the fourth quarter. A Dolente three-pointer to open the fourth quarter pulled Upperman back within single digits (43-34), but the Lady Bees got no closer as White County closed out from there to win by a 59-44 final score.

The Warriorettes take sole possession of first place in District 7-3A with the win while Upperman falls behind Stone Memorial to third.

Up next for White County is a pair of trips to Crossville as they face the Class 3A #2-ranked Stone Memorial Lady Panthers on Tuesday followed by Cumberland County on Friday in District 7-3A play. Upperman is scheduled to host Soddy Daisy on Monday in girls-only action.

“You’ve got to hold and serve at home, then you got to try and find ways to steal one on the road,” said Dodgen. “Now we’ve got to go on the road for two at Stone and Cumberland County, and those aren’t two easy places to play. This district is so good top to bottom; anybody can beat anybody on any given night. You have to come ready to play every single time you step on the floor.”

Boys

The Class 3A #1-ranked Upperman Bees (19-5, 5-0) kept their District 7-3A record unblemished Friday night as they won at White County (15-6, 1-4), 64-49.

Upperman was led by 26 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists from defending Class 3A Mr. Basketball point guard Ty Cobb, followed by 10 points and 10 boards from Colton Johnson.

White County controlled the contest early as they jumped out to a 21-11 lead via a Cole Sims free throw with 25.3 seconds left in the first quarter.

Upperman clawed back to take a 27-25 lead via back-t0-back transition baskets from Cobb late in the first half. Sims tacked on a free throw before the break to make the halftime score 27-26 in favor of the Bees.

The Bees’ advantage grew to double digits (40-29) midway through the third quarter. Upperman led 48-37 entering the fourth quarter, where they held off the Warriors to win by a 64-49 final score.

Up next for White County is a pair of District 7-3A road games at Stone Memorial on Tuesday and Cumberland County on Friday, while Upperman is scheduled to host the Jets on Tuesday.