By Michael Lindsay

Girls

A matchup of #1-ranked teams went down in Jamestown Saturday night as the Class 3A #1 Stone Memorial Lady Panthers (24-3, 7-1) defeated Class 2A #1 York Institute (22-5, 6-0), 66-54.

“That was our third road game of the week, and the other two were against league opponents,” said Buck. “To finish that up at York and get a win really says a lot about our kids.

“This was like a substate matchup,” added Buck. “York is really good and they have a chance to win the whole thing in 2A. I’m proud of coach Michael Green for playing these games to prepare his team for the postseason, too.”

Lady Panther freshman Lexi Clark poured in 27 points in the win followed by 14 from senior Ashley Whittenburg. Four Dragonettes scored in double figures, including Cali Franklin with 16, Emma Cooper with 12, Emma Pile with 11 and Raylee Werner with 10.

York led by as many as 8 points (18-10) late in the first quarter before the Lady Panthers stormed back to tie the game at 22-22 via a Whittenburg three-pointer with 4:08 remaining in the second quarter. Following a Dragonette free throw on the ensuing possession, Whittenburg found the bottom of the net from three-point range again to give Stone Memorial a 25-23 lead with 3:32 left in the first half. The Lady Panthers maintained their lead over the final minutes of the first half to enter the locker room ahead 33-29 at the break.

“We didn’t really start out good; we turned the ball over a bunch out of the gate,” said Buck. “We stayed steady with our pressure and making plays as the game went on.”

Stone Memorial took control of the game to start the second half as they opened the third quarter on a 14-4 run to lead 47-33 with 4:36 remaining in the period. The Lady Panthers led 53-40 entering the fourth quarter, where a Whittenburg basket with 4:40 remaining gave her team their largest lead of the game at 57-42. Stone Memorial held off the Dragonettes from there as they won by a 66-54 margin.

“I’m excited to have been in those moments,” said Buck. “We play these games to get tested like this. This was a substate caliber environment and an opponent and that’s why we do it.”

Saturday’s win concludes the regular season for the Lady Panthers at 24-3 overall. Stone Memorial is the #1 overall seed in the upcoming District 7-3A tournament at Cookeville High School. York Institute has one more regular season game remaining as they host Class 3A #2-ranked White County on Monday.

Boys

The Class 3A #8-ranked Stone Memorial Panthers wrapped up the regular season in the win column on Saturday as they won at York Institute, 68-51.

Saturday’s win comes on the heels of a 45-32 win a Cumberland County on Friday.

“We made just enough plays to win,” said Stone Memorial head coach Jess Raby. “Briggs had some good moments that were huge. 
We got pretty tired there late, but we were able to make some plays.”

Briggs Lowe led the Panthers with 23 points followed by 18 from Jack Cordell. Coen Gibson led York with 15 points along with 14 by Jack Johnson.

“
You have to give York a lot of credit,” said Raby. “It’s hard when you prepare for Upperman on Tuesday, then your cross-county rival (Cumberland County), then you come up here to York.”

A back-and-forth first quarter saw Stone Memorial hold a 13-11 to end the frame. The Panthers extended their advantage to 8 points by halftime as they led 35-27 at the break.

The third quarter mirrored the second as Stone Memorial outscored the Dragons 22-16 again to lead 57-43 entering the fourth quarter. The Panthers closed out from there to win by a 68-51 final score.

“We were able to force them into one shot and get the stop instead of giving a lot of offensive rebounds,” said Raby. 
”Our competitiveness really carried us through that. These guys have high standards for themselves. I like our competitive nature and physicality on rebounding right there, and our guys never quit. 
They’ve been a great group all year long.”

Stone Memorial is off until the District 7-3A tournament later next week, where they’ll be the #2 overall seed and face #3 Cumberland County in the opening round. York Institute has one more regular season game on Monday, where they’ll host White County.

“We’ve got some guys under the weather and they need couple days off, “said Raby. “At the end of the game, we made some mental mistakes and I believe that’s a sign of maybe some mental fatigue. 
So, you know, hopefully we can get some rest and start clicking on all cylinders again.”