TAD too strong for Lady Tigers

By Wes Holtsclaw
STAR STAFF
wholtsclaw@starhq.com

   JOHNSON CITY -- The Hunter Lady Tigers got one of the toughest draws in the Grindstaff-Greystoke East Tennessee Middle School Shootout.
   The problem only sat on the other side of town.
   In the only inner-county battle of the first round of girls tournament play, the T.A. Dugger Lady Cyclones used strong 11-point games from Janey Robinson and Hannah Fritz to pull away with a 45-26 victory at Freedom Hall.
   Mariah Pietrowski also reached double-digits for the Lady Cyclones with 10 points.
   In other games, Unicoi County squeezed by Hampton 32-26, Science Hill eased by Cloudland 37-23, Vance toppled Happy Valley 44-15, Colonial Heights plummeted Unaka 55-10, Ross Robinson defeated University High 22-20, John Sevier defeated Indian Trail and Greeneville Middle hammered Virginia Middle 62-23.
   Boys tournament play began Tuesday.
   T.A. Dugger outscored Hunter, who was missing head coach Tammy Taylor, 13-4 in the first quarter and never looked back.
   The Lady Tigers fought hard after trailing 24-10 at the end of the half, scoring 13 points in the fourth quarter against the Lady Cyclones.
   Robinson and Fritz both hit a pair of treys in the game. Hunter was led with nine points from Brittney Westberry.
   Unicoi County 32
   Hampton 26
   The Hampton Jr. Lady Bulldogs had the closest game out of the remainder of the Carter County schools participating in the tournament, falling by six points to the Unicoi County Lady Patriots.
   Andrea Smith dropped 11 points for the Lady Bulldogs, who led over halfway through the contest.
   Science Hill 37
   Cloudland 23
   The inside game hurt the Cloudland Jr. Lady Highlanders as they fell 27-6 after the first half against the Lady Toppers.
   Alexis Fields had 13 points, while Jordan Douglas dropped nine for Science Hill.
   Cloudland rallied back late in the game with buckets from Rebecka Tolley (11 points) and some sharp shooting from Bethany Bare and Shellie McKinney.
   Vance 44
   Happy Valley 15
   The Vance Lady Vikings had more weapons than the Happy Valley Middle Lady Warriors, and stalled any chances their opponents had of a comeback with a 10-1 fourth quarter edge.
   Brittney Saylor led Vance with 16 points, while Erin Hyde contributed eight. Hannah Banks led Happy Valley with four.
   Colonial Heights 55
   Unaka 10
   Colonial Heights held the Lady Rangers to three second half points in their victory on the main floor.
   Natalie Pickwell scored 13 points to lead her squad, while Ashley Johnson, Samantha Williams and Kendra Hampton tallied six for Heights.
   Dana Williams led Unaka with six.