By Michael Lindsay

The Pickett County Bobcats and Lady Bobcats swept their respective District 7-1A matchups against Jackson County Tuesday as the girls opened with a 76-69 victory followed by a 65-56 win by the boys.

Girls

Pickett County senior point guard Zoey Nicholas added another 40-point game to her resume Tuesday as the Tennessee Tech signee dropped 42 in her team’s 76-69 win over Class 1A #2-ranked Jackson County.

“Zoey’s a generational player,” said Pickett County girls coach Brittany Cooper. “I’ll probably only have one Zoey that I get a coach in my lifetime. Her effort is always the highest that she can give at any given time and she makes her teammates better.”

Addy Lowe tacked on 14 points along with 9 by Kylie Wood. Avannah Banks and Jalynn Meadows led Jackson County in scoring with 19 points each.

Pickett County jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter as back-to-back Nicholas three-pointers put her team ahead 15-5 with 3:23 remaining in the opening frame. The Lady Bobcats held a 25-14 lead entering the second quarter.

Jackson County battled back in the second as Banks scored 11 points in the frame to help trim Pickett County’s lead to 40-35 by halftime. Nicholas had 28 points in the first half including 6 three-pointers.

Pickett County stepped up on the defensive end in the third quarter as they outscored Jackson County 19-10 in the frame to take a 59-45 lead entering the fourth quarter. Jackson County rallied to within 5 points (74-69) via a Lyla Smith layup with 52 seconds remaining, but Pickett County closed out from there to win by a 76-69 final score.

The Lady Bobcats have won 7 consecutive games and improve to 12-9 overall and 4-0 in District 7-1A play.

“We’ve really started clicking here as of late, playing some really good team basketball,” said Cooper. “I don’t think that I could ask for much better in district play. We’re 4-0 in the district and that’s hard to do; it’s arguably one of the best districts in Tennessee. I’m so just really proud of the kids, proud of the work, the preparation and their willingness get it done during crunch time.”

Boys

Two of the three highest-ranked Class 1A teams in Tennessee squared off in Byrdstown on Tuesday as the #2-ranked Pickett County Bobcats (21-2, 4-0) defeated the Jackson County Blue Devils (17-4, 3-1) by a 65-56 margin.

“I think everybody in the Upper Cumberland anticipated tonight,” said Pickett County head coach Lee Amonett. “It was a sectional environment. Jackson County traveled well and our community came out and supported us very strong. You got to see everything. Anybody that paid $7 for that; you’re welcome.”

Three Bobcats scored in double figures as junior Nathaniel Cobb posted 17 points along with 16 each from sophomores Brody Pryor and Cole Amonett.

“We start a freshman, 3 sophomores and a junior,” said coach Amonett, “Three of those starters weren’t playing high school basketball a year ago. It’s definitely the biggest game they’ve been in. It’s the loudest environment that they’ve been in and they’re having to grow up as they play.”

Senior forward Will McCrary and guard Parker Patterson scored 22 points each to lead Jackson County.

Pickett County held an 11-9 lead after one quarter and outscored the Blue Devils 18-9 in the second period to lead 29-18 at halftime

The Bobcats took control to start the second half as they opened the third quarter on a 12-2 run to lead by 21 points (41-20) with 3:40 remaining in the period. Jackson County stopped the bleeding and outscored the Bobcats 13-6 over the final three minutes of the third to cut their deficit to 47-33 entering the fourth quarter.

The Blue Devils pulled back within single digits (51-43) via a pair of McCrary free throws with 4:35 remaining. The Jackson County run didn’t stop there as Patterson nailed back-to-back three-pointers along with two more free throws from McCrary to cut Pickett County’s lead to one point at 52-51 with 2:55 remaining.

Despite the 31-11 Jackson County run, Pickett County never relinquished their lead as a pair of Pryor free throws an an Amonett layup gave the Bobcats a 56-53 lead with 1:30 to go.

“We say palms down, calm down,” said coach Amonett. “We got a little bit rattled. “They did a good job during that run of taking the ball out of Cole’s hands. We didn’t execute into some gaps and some flashes that we should have whenever that doubled us. Once they cut it to one point, we immediately scored, then extended the lead back to 12.”

Pryor extended his team’s lead back to three possessions (60-53) via a pair of layups with 36.1 seconds remaining. Pickett County closed out at the free throw line from there to win by a 65-56 final score.

“If there’s a younger team in Middle, Tennessee, I’d like to know who it is,” said Amonett. “There’s not a younger team that’s 21-2 that’s played the schedule we’ve played. And I think that speaks to the talent that we have and the maturity came during that second wave of that run after they made theirs.”

The Bobcats improve to 21-2 overall and 4-0 in District 7-1A play while Jackson County drops to 17-4 and 3-1. Up next for Pickett County is a trip to Clarkrange on Tuesday while Jackson County is scheduled to play Clarkrange this Friday, weather permitting.