By Michael Lindsay
Stone Memorial picked up a pair of victories over their neighbors to the north Tuesday evening as the Panthers and Lady Panthers swept Clarkrange in non-district play. The Lady Panthers pulled away to a 66-37 victory in the first game before the Panthers picked up a 97-62 win in game two.
Girls
The Stone Memorial Lady Panthers picked up their third victory of the season Tuesday evening as they defeated Clarkrange, 66-37.
“That’s hard to do,” said Stone Memorial head coach Mike Buck. “(Clarkrange head coach) Lamar Rogers is really good and they’re better than they showed tonight. We were able to do some things tonight defensively scheme wise. Our girls did a good job of following the scouting report.”
Junior guard Lily Hinch led the Lady Panthers with 15 points on 5 three-pointers points along with 14 by forward Kailee Waldo and 13 by Ashley Whittenburg. Lydia Phillips led Clarkrange with 11 points.
After a back-and-forth start, Stone Memorial pushed out to a 17-9 lead at the end of the first quarter via an Ashley Whittenburg buzzer-beating three-pointer.
Lily Hinch kept Stone Memorial’s success behind the line going as a three-pointer on the first possession of the second period gave the Lady Panthers a double-digit lead at 20-9.
A pair of Kailee Waldo baskets extended Stone Memorial’s lead to 26-11 with 4:05 left until halftime as the Lady Panthers took a 36-13 lead into halftime.
“We want to get out and run and find some easy stuff,” said Buck. “If we can rebound the ball, we’re in position to run the floor and find people in transition. I think we ran the floor really good tonight.”
The Lady Panthers kept their foot on the gas on both end of the court in the second half as they outscored Clarkrange 24-5 in the third quarter to take a 62-26 lead over the Lady Buffaloes. Stone Memorial closed out in the fourth quarter to win by a 66-37 final score.
Stone Memorial improves to 3-4 overall while Clarkrange falls to 3-4. The Lady Buffaloes are scheduled to play at Oneida on Friday while the Lady Panthers will travel to Webb School of Knoxville on Monday, Dec. 11.
“We have to get better over the next few days,” said Buck. “There’s a few things to work on before we start looking at scouting reports on the next team.”
Stone Memorial (66): Lily Hinch 15, Kailee Waldo 14, Ashley Whittenburg 13, Rachel Houston 6, Adison Howard 2, Paige Roberts 2, Abby Hazelton 2, Chloe Waldo 1
Clarkrange (37): Lydia Phillips 11, Payton Manis 9, Chloe Rogers 6, Macie Threet 4, Kady Hopkins 4, Sophia Sitton 3
Boys
The Stone Memorial Panthers started their week in the win column as they defeated Clarkrange Tuesday evening 97-62 for their fifth consecutive victory.
Despite the 35-point margin of victory, Stone Memorial led by only 10 points late in the third quarter.
“Clarkrange wasn’t going anywhere,” said Stone Memorial head coach Neil Capps. “The final score ins not indicative of what that game was. Clarkrange plays really hard and they do their stuff really well. They got us in a lot of bad situations and exposed some areas of weakness for us. But we were able to we were able to push in transition and that was the highest point total we’ve had in a while.”
Cade Capps led the Panthers with 36 points along with 17 from Preston Mayberry and 16 from point guard Wyatt Grothe.
“Preston shot the ball well and was able to get a lot of nice looks,” said coach Capps. “Cade didn’t hit a three but was able to get to the rim. Wyatt did well in transition; a lot of those starters really had nice games tonight.”
Clarkrange’s Jack Cordell led the Buffaloes with 24 points. Kris Beaty and Bryton Swallows also hit double-figures as Beaty scored 15 and Swallows 14.
Stone Memorial controlled the early portions of the contest as they opened on an 9-0 run via back-to-back three-pointers by Preston Mayberry to take a 27-15 lead after one quarter.
The Panthers kept control into the second period as they pushed their lead out to 44-27 by halftime.
Clarkrange hung around in the third period as the Buffaloes cut their deficit to 10 points (54-44) with 3:15 remaining in the third period.
Stone Memorial weathered the storm and pushed their lead back to 15 points (68-53) by the end of the third quarter. Stone Memorial controlled the early portions of the fourth quarter as they grew their lead to 20 points early in the frame.
The Panthers held off Clarkrange over the final 8 minutes as they cruised to a 97-62 victory over the Buffaloes.
Stone Memorial improves to 7-1 overall with their victory, which is the 13th consecutive over the Buffaloes dating back to the 2016-’17 season. The Panthers are scheduled to take a week off before traveling to Webb School of Knoxville on Monday, Dec. 11.
Clarkrange falls to 3-4 overall and travels to Oneida on Friday for their second contest against the Indians.
Stone Memorial (97): Cade Capps 36, Preston Mayberry 17, Wyatt Grothe 16, Brady Lane 8, Braiden Elliot 5, Kadyn Page 3, Jake Hennessee 3, Zaiden Rice 3, Jayden Eldridge 2, Kayne Bosanko 2, Briggs Lowe 2
Clarkrange (62): Jack Cordell 24, Kris Beaty 15, Bryton Swallows 14, Bo Ramsey 3, Lane Byrd 3, Justus Durham 3
