2A District wrapup

With the girls portion of the District 1-2A tournament in the books and the Lady Blue Devils of Unicoi County taking the top prize and guard Amber Bailey named MVP it's time to wrap up the tourney.
   The Lady Devils out-rebounded the Lady Cyclones by a large margin in their win which was the major factor leading to the Unicoi County championship.
   Central also dominated in the consolation game with a win over the young Lady Falcons of Volunteer.
   All-District team
   Kristi Moody of Sullivan Central made the list due to her offensive brilliance. Moody scored a tournament high 55 points (18.3 ppg) and took down 21 rebounds as the Lady Cougars took the third spot in the tourney.
   From Sullivan North Kristen Hughes scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, but the Lady Raiders fell to Sullivan Central in the first round of games.
   Senior guard Leah Johnson's 24 points (8.0 ppg) and 11 rebounds got her selected to the squad from the Lady Falcons and another guard that earned recognition was Hampton's Joy Gardner who scored 22 points (11.0 ppg) and was good for nine rebounds and six assists.
   Sophomore Mandy Byrd of Happy Valley was selected for her 16 point effort in dropping a close 41-38 contest to Volunteer.
   For Johnson County Nikki Davidson - who totaled 12 points - was not enough to stave off defeat to Hampton, but Davidson's solid effort was enough to be named to the team.
   The Cyclones Sarah Smith (27 points and eight rebounds), along with Rikki Baughman - who scored 42 points (14.0 ppg) and was a force on the boards with 26 were the selections.
   Joining Bailey for the Lady Blue Devils was Elizabeth Weaver who scored 18 points in two games for Unicoi and also grabbed 14 rebounds.
   Boys final tonight
   In the consolation contest, the Johnson County Longhorns will face off against the Volunteer Falcons, who were decimated in an 84-53 loss to the Cyclones.
   Volunteer has as much talent as any team in the district, but seems to play out of control at times and head coach Todd Whittemore has been whistled for technical fouls at crunch time in close games of late.
   Don't get me wrong, sometimes a coach will do that kind of thing to fire his team up, and can be a motivating factor, but it can also be a double-edged sword in that your team can lose discipline.
   Johnson County doesn't seem to be able to score enough points, and their lack of depth is evident and that will hurt them against Volunteer.
   Matt Cornett, Judd Shoun and Michael Lipford are carrying the team right now and it would be a great time for senior Tommy Short to add his name to that list.
   The 'Horns shot selection has been downright ugly at times, with the guys settling for jump shots or trying ill advised three's. Coach Austin Atwood should be able to get his squad ready to play, but whether they can stick with Volunteer is questionable.
   Right now the district consists of the Cyclones, Sullivan Central and everybody else as both teams scored lopsided victories over teams that everyone thought would challenge them.
   For coach Tony Hardin and his squad, the focus will be to continue recent EHS domination of Central. The Cyclones have won eight consecutive games against a team that, on paper, matches up well with Betsy.
   John LeSueur has speed and shooting skills to almost evenly match up with Cyclone sniper B.J. Miller point-for-point and forward Chris Martin can shoot the trey.
   It is in the post that the Cyclones live however, and Vince Redd is the big man in the middle. Redd presence gives Betsy the opportunity to be creative on defense and allow the guards some leeway in how they trap opponents.
   For Central to have a chance at ending the EHS win streak they will need a big game from Matt Dunford, who seems to disappear against Betsy, and will also need to play the way they did against Johnson County when they forced the tempo and turnovers.
   Treadway gymnasium should be packed to the rafters for this one as both teams' fans are vocal and supportive.