Left shorthanded, TAD girls drop
game to Science Hill
from staff reports
JOHNSON CITY--The T.A. Dugger girls basketball
team had plenty of reason to go down easy on Tuesday evening.
Instead, the Lady Junior Cyclones fought to the end.
With four of their key players out with the flu,
the Lady Cyclones actually held a fourth-quarter lead before
Science Hill stepped to the fore at crunch time and pulled
out a 36-30 conference victory in junior high play.
"Not to make excuses, but we had several players
out due to illness," said TAD assistant coach Kip Anderson.
"This was a learning experience -- definitely an eye-opener.
We need to build on our mistakes. We had a few seventh-graders
step up and play eighth-grade ball, and they did a great job."
With seventh-graders Kyla Jones, Hannah Fritz
and Leslie Guinn being thrown into the heat of varsity play,
and responding quite well, the Lady 'Clones nearly had enough
to get the job done.
They helped to provide a solid supporting cast
for Marti Bush, who yanked down 12 rebounds, scored a team-high
eight points (6-8 FTs) and blocked two shots.
"If we had to pick a player of the game, it would
hands down be Marti Bush," Anderson said. "She gave 110 percent
and left everything she had out on the floor."
Victoria Hopson added nine boards and five points
for TAD, which got five points from Tia Nave.
Down 19-11 at the break, TAD outscored the Junior
Hilltoppers in the third period to pull within a point at
22-21. 'Betsy kept on charging, and grabbed the lead at about
the three-minute mark of the final period. A late Science
Hill surge, though, handed the Lady Junior Cyclones (10-1)
their first loss on the season.
7th-grade game
T.A. Dugger 53
Indian Trail 23
The Lady 'Clones steamrolled their way to 11-0
on the season as Fritz amassed 14 points, 10 rebounds and
a pair of steals.
Up 18-11 at intermission, T.A. Dugger outscored
Indian Trail 21-7 in the third stanza to seal the final verdict.
Guinn contributed nine points to the Lady Cyclone
fold, followed by Janey Robinson, Jasmine Treadway and Kelly
Culler with six points apiece. Ashlyn Hunt chipped in eight
rebounds and three steals, while Jones came up with four steals.
