By Michael Lindsay

Girls

The Class 3A #3-ranked White County Warriorettes (19-3, 1-1) got back in the win column Tuesday as they defeated #2-ranked Stone Memorial (15-3, 1-1) by a 67-43 margin.

“I thought we were really good defensively tonight,” said Warriorette head coach Michael Dodgen. “Stone’s a good basketball team. Coach Mike Buck’s record speaks for itself. They’re not the #2 ranked team by mistake; they’ve beat a lot of quality teams. I thought we did a really good not only on the defensive end, but we converted some stuff offensively, too.”

Gracie Clark led the Warriorettes with 24 points and 4 rebounds followed by 16 points and 6 boards from Lakelyn Grasty. Ashlyn posted 8 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals in the win.

“We made shots,” said Dodgen. “We didn’t let them offense rebounds and allow them to get second shots I was proud of our kids for that. I thought Ashlyn and Kyra (Fox), Gracie, Lakelyn and Bella all did a really good job defensively of understanding the assignment and playing basketball.”

Ella Jane May led Stone Memorial with 11 points along with 10 by Lexi Clark.

Both offenses came out firing as White County led 16-13 after one quarter. The Warriorettes pushed their lead to double digits late in the second period before Stone Memorial’s Ashley Whittenburg sank a buzzer-beater from beyond half court to make the score 33-26 Warriorettes at halftime.

“I’d prefer a track meet every night,” said Dodgen. “But in this district, you got so many good coaches and so many different styles that you’re going to have to be good night in and night out.”

White County’s lead grew in the third quarter as they held a 48-33 advantage entering the fourth quarter. The Warriorettes closed out strong in the fourth as they outscore the Lady Panthers 19-6 in the final period to win by a 67-43 final score.

Up next for the Warriorettes is more District 7-3A action at home on Friday as they host Cumberland County (13-8, 0-1) while Stone Memorial hosts Smith County (12-7) on Saturday and Class 3A #1 Upperman (16-3, 2-0) next Tuesday.

“How many times does a district have the #1, #2 and #3 teams in the state?” said Dodgen. “Cumberland County and Livingston should be in there too, because of how good our league is. But when you’ve got that type of competition in your league every single night, you can’t take a night off. ”

Boys

The Stone Memorial Panthers (10-6, 2-0) improved to 2-0 in District 7-3A play on Tuesday as they won at Class 3A #3 White County, 67-43.

“The guys are really locked in with a lot of energy,” said Stone Memorial head coach Jess Raby. “This is a really tough place to play with really good tradition. We knew that they’d be ready, and executed early on. We made some shots in the first quarter and had some guys get going.”

Jack Cordell led the Panthers with 20 points along with 12 by Briggs Lowe, 11 by Evin Mosely and 10 by Hunter Haney while Cole Sims led White County with 17.

“Jack had a great game,” said Raby. “We just got a lot of contributions from a lot of people. ‘m really proud of our guys for coming out and competing in a really tough environment against a good team. They’re 14-3 for a reason.”

Stone Memorial jumped out to an 18-11 lead after one period and extended it to double digits (22-11) on a Jake Hennessee jumper with 6:43 remaining in the first half. The Panthers took a 30-18 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Their lead grew in the third quarter as Stone Memorial outscored White County 24-19 in the third quarter to take a 54-37 lead into the fourth quarter. The Panthers held off the Warriors from there as they closed out to win by a 70-47 final score.

“We came out and actually played better defense in the second half I thought,” said Raby. “They made some really tough shots. White county has some good competitors; Cole Sims is really just a competitive kid.

“Charlie VanWinkle hit some big shots in big moments for us,” added Raby. “Jack gave us scoring when we needed it and I’m really proud of them.

Up next for the Panthers is a non-district game against Smith County on Saturday while White County hosts Cumberland County on Friday. Stone Memorial returns to District 7-3A play on Tuesday when they host Class 3A defending state champion Upperman (16-4, 2-0).

“You can’t take a deep breath,” said Raby. “There are a lot of really good teams in this league. We’ve got to keep putting in work. We can’t take a big sigh of relief for breath and think that we’ve accomplished something; we still haven’t accomplished what we want, so we’re gonna keep getting better day by day.”