By Michael Lindsay

The two top-ranked Class 3A basketball teams in Tennessee were in action Tuesday in Baxter as the #1 Stone Memorial Lady Panthers defeated the #6 Upperman Lady Bees 53-50 while the Upperman boys defeated the Panthers 64-53.

Girls

Tuesday’s battle of TSWA top-10 3A girls programs went to the visitors as the #1-ranked Stone Memorial Lady Panthers (22-3, 6-1) traveled to Baxter and defeated the #6 Upperman Lady Bees (20-7, 4-4) in come-from-behind fashion, 53-50.

The Lady Panthers trailed by 11 points in the second quarter before storming back in the second half to win.

“We had just so much toughness, grit and determination,” said Lady Panther head coach Mike Buck. “We weren’t going to give up. We struggled to get going, and a lot of that had to do with Upperman. We had to make some adjustments that we really haven’t had to make from behind this year.”

Stone Memorial freshmen Lexi Clark and Bella Wyatt led the way with 18 points each with Wyatt’s coming via six three-pointers off the bench in her second game back sine mid-December due to injury.

“Bella coming off the bench is huge,” said Buck. “She did that over at Clarkrange on Saturday, too; she hit seven threes. She’s a confident kid and we have confidence in her. We love having her back on the floor and she’s really changed who we are, for sure.”

Gracie Butler led Upperman with 19 points while Sadie South tacked on 14.

Upperman controlled the early portions of the contest as they jumped out to a 13-3 lead via a Taylor Dolente layup with 1:41 remaining in the first quarter. The Lady Bees took a 17-11 lead into the second period.

Stone Memorial pulled back within a point (17-16) early in the frame, but Upperman reeled off a 10-0 run to lead 27-16 with 3:41 remaining until halftime. Stone Memorial weathered the storm again and battled back within 4 points by halftime to trail 30-26.

“When they go on a run, you have to stay close enough to where you can eventually stop the bleeding,” said Buck. “We want to do certain things offensively and they took some of that away. We had to adjust offensively, but we’ve got a great young team.”

The Lady Panthers chipped away in the third quarter and caught the Lady Bees via a Wyatt three-pointer late in the third quarter to tie the game at 37 points each. Maggie Butler hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer from the corner to give Upperman a 40-37 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Stone Memorial tied the game back at 42-42 with 5:38 remaining, but Upperman retook the lead at 45-42 via a South three-pointer with 4:09 to go. After trading baskets, a Gracie Butler finish in traffic gave the Lady Bees a 50-47 lead with 1:48 remaining.

A pair of Lexi Clark free throws with 1:18 to go pulled the Lady Panthers within one point (50-49) with 1:18 to go. Stone Memorial’s Ella Jane May went to work from there as she blocked an Upperman shot attempt on the following possession and scored the go-ahead basket for Stone Memorial with 34 seconds remaining.

Stone Memorial’s Lauren Clark stole a pass on Upperman’s next possession, setting her sister Lexi up for a pair of free throws with 8.3 seconds left to give the Lady Panthers a 53-50 advantage. Upperman missed a three-pointer off at the buzzer to secure Stone Memorial’s 53-50 victory.

The Lady Panthers improve to 22-3 overall and 6-1 in District 7-3A action. The Lady Panthers are in sole possession of first place and can lock up the regular season district championship on Friday at current #4 seed Cumberland County. Upperman falls to 4-4 in district play and is locked into third place while White County is currently in second at 5-2 with a home game against current #5 Livingston on Friday.

“All three of us (Stone Memorial, Upperman, White County) have been in the top of 3A all year,” said Buck. “But nobody’s established themselves by doing it on the road. We still have one more game at Cumberland County, This is the toughest league in the state and it’s pretty special.”

Boys

The Class 3A #1-ranked Upperman Bees (22-5, 8-0) put a bow on their second consecutive undefeated run through District 7-3A play Tuesday night as they defeated #8 Stone Memorial (15-8, 5-2) by a 64-53 margin.

“I’ve been in this league for over 30 years, and you can count on one hand the number of times that somebody’s went through this league undefeated,” said Upperman head coach Bobby McWilliams, “The coaches and players are just so good year in and year out. We were able to do it in back-to-back years, and that’s really not something that’s done much. All the credit to my kids; they were locked in and ready to play on senior night with a lot of energy and emotions.”

Reigning Class 3A Mr. Basketball Ty Cobb led the Bees with 31 points, 8 assists and 6 rebounds followed by Colton Johnson with 20 points and 5 boards. Tanner Bowman led Stone Memorial with 14 points along with 13 by Briggs Lowe and 10 from Hunter Haney.

Stone Memorial jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first quarter before Cobb got the Bees on the board with an and-one dunk midway through the first quarter. Upperman clawed back to lead 16-11 after one quarter of action.

A Cobb three-pointer with 6:26 remaining in the second period extended Upperman’s lead to double digits at 22-11. The Bees led by as many as 14 points (30-16) in the second quarter and took a 33-21 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Upperman’s lead grew out of the halftime break as a Cobb and-one with 2:09 remaining in the third quarter put the Bees ahead 45-28. Stone Memorial whittled away from there as they cut their deficit from 17 points to 11 as they entered the fourth quarter trailing 45-34.

The Panthers weren’t done there as they went on a 17-6 run in the first 5:18 of the fourth quarter to pull within 4 points (55-51) via a Haney dunk with 2:21 remaining.

“I thought from about a minute left to go in the third quarter until about 2 minutes left in the game, our clock management was not as good as it’s been probably in the last 2.5 years,” said McWilliams. “We’re going to fix that, but give Stone credit. They’re good offensively and really good defensively. It’s just two good teams going at it. It was a great win for us; we’ve just got to learn how to manage the game a when we get a chance to put the game away.”

The Bees stopped the bleeding there as a Johnson basket the ensuing possession followed by two Torrence free throws and a Johnson and-one gave the Bees a 62-51 lead with 46.6 seconds left. Upperman held on from there to win by a 64-53 final score.

The win secures the regular season district championship for the Bees and #1 overall seed in the upcoming District 7-3A tournament at 8-0. Stone Memorial is currently in second place at 5-2 in district play with a trip to current #3 seed Cumberland County (4-3) on Friday. Upperman hosts Cannon County in non-district action on Friday then travels to face them on Monday.

“We’ve got Cannon County on Friday,” said McWilliams. “It’s a non-district game and gives us a chance to do some things differently. We’re going to work on ourselves over the next week and a half to try to get ready for the tournaments and be ready.”