by Rusty Ellis
The Cookeville Lady Cavs and Cavaliers were each victorious on Friday night over Farragut, as the Lady Cavs used a stout defensive effort to take down the Admirals.
Points were hard to come by for both teams in the opening frame, but Cookeville found some rhythm near the end of the quarter as Macy Hudson gave the Lady Cavs a 13-5 lead heading into the second.
There, CHS produced their best defensive quarter of the evening by holding Farragut to just three points in the frame. This allowed the Lady Cavs to find some success on offense, and it led to a 21-8 lead at the halftime break for Cookeville.
The Lady Cavs pushed that lead to as much as 14 in the third quarter, but a three right before the buzzer for the Admirals cut the lead down to just 11 entering the fourth. It wouldn’t matter however, as CHS’ defense held up like it did all night en route to the 41-24 victory.
Hudson paced Cookeville with 12 points, while Isabel Garcia added a near double-double of nine points and 11 rebounds for head coach Jamie Gillies, who praised the way her team’s defense won the game.
“We still have work to do and I told them after the game that I like playing against teams like that that are scrappy,” Gillies said. “I like that we had to deal with that pressure at different times tonight…defensively we did a really good job, we did what the scouting report said to do. We struggled to score for a little bit there, but our defense was holding so it all worked out.”
Cookeville’s had multiple players take on bigger roles this season, which Gillies expected there might be growing pains for. Though it may still be early, she says she’s pleased with the steps her team has taken to get comfortable in said roles.
“I’ve been working different combinations and watching film to see who works well together out there,” Gillies said. “I think the more and more those kids get in and play together, they’re just getting more confident in what they do.”
The part that Gillies says needs correcting is the offensive end of the floor. Farragut spent most of Friday’s game double-teaming Isabel Garcia in the post, and Gillies knows they’ll need to be more efficient at that end of the floor to get to where they want to go.
“We can’t score 41 points to be as good as we want to be,” Gillies said. “We’ve got to put the ball in the basket. We took some bad shots, so we need to take higher percentage spots, and that comes with all the new faces we have on the floor at times. I just need to be better at putting our scorers in better positions to score.”
The Cavaliers followed that win up with one of their own, this one of the 67-61 variety over the Admirals.
The game got off to an auspicious start for the Cavs however, as a hot start from three saw Farragut take a 21-12 lead late in the first quarter. Cookeville battled back with the frame’s final five points, capped off by a Jaren Davis three to cut the deficit to just 21-17 to start the second.
There, Cookeville opened with the first five points of the quarter to take a 22-21 lead, and continued building momentum as the first half wore on. By the time the buzzer sounded for halftime, it was a nine-point swing from the end of the first quarter that saw the Cavaliers take a 36-31 lead.
The third quarter saw both teams trade shots back-and-forth, as an Admiral three with just under eight seconds remaining in the frame cut the CHS lead to just 53-50 heading into the fourth quarter.
The game remained close there, as Cookeville took a 64-61 lead with just over two minutes remaining. While the Cavaliers struggled offensively to create separation, the defense strung together three consecutive stops to seal the victory.
Colin Ayers led the way with 19 points, while Josh Heard followed closely behind with 17. Jalen Heard and Bennett Reeves each added 10 points for head coach Josh Heard, who said there was plenty to be pleased with, especially regarding his team’s defense in the fourth.
“It came down to defense, we had a heck of a last two minutes,” Heard said. “We came down on three straight possessions and got stops. That was the difference in the ball game, we just sucked it up and got some stops.”
It was a stark contrast for Heard’s team in the opening frame that saw them get down by nine, as he says he felt like they just got a little too disconnected from Farragut’s wings.
Heard also made sure to praise his team for adjusting on the fly and in his words, ‘growing up’ when it mattered.
“We were expecting them to miss those threes, and we’ve just got to do a better job of listening to the scouting report,” Heard said. “We just did a terrible job of closing out, and for our second game, it’s tough…I’m just happy that we grew up in that fourth quarter and did what we needed to do to get stops.”
Cookeville’s next contest will be on Dec. 5, when they travel to take on Knoxville Webb.
