J.L. Mann tops Cloudland girls for championshi; Lady 'Clones 3rd

By David Coulson
STAR Correspondent

   BOONE, N.C. -- Trevonne Williams scored sixteen points and pulled down fifteen rebounds to lead J.L. Mann of Greenville, S.C. to a 42-30 victory over defending champion Cloudland in the championship game of the Bandana's Barbecue Prep Classic girls' basketball tournament Monday night.
   Williams was a dominating force inside the paint for the Lady Patriots, who took control of the game in the second period and never looked back.
   Mann held Cloudland's all-tournament duo of April Williams and Jessica Lunsford to six points each, but the Lady 'Landers managed to keep the game close until the final minutes.
   Led by nine points from Kayla Blevins, Cloudland trailed 28-24 heading into the fourth quarter, and got as close as three points to Mann's score with just over five minutes to play, but couldn't cut it closer.
   Mann controlled the boards, 36-27, despite ten rebounds from Lunsford.
   In earlier action Monday, Elizabethton captured third place with a 61-48 win over Union Pines. Rikki Baughman earned all-tournament honors with her 16-point performance, adding five rebounds, four assists, two steals and a blocked shot.
   Valnessha Redd contributed fourteen points, five rebounds, four steals, three assists, and a blocked shot to Elizabethton's victory.
   Elizabethton survived a 17-point, 13-rebound effort from Union Pines star Lisa Jackson.
   In the seventh place game on Monday morning, Johnson County came within one foot of sending the game to overtime in a 52-51 loss to Avery County.
   Trailing 52-49 with seconds to play, the Lady Longhorns hit a shot from near the three-point line at the buzzer, but the player had one foot on the line.
   Elena Owens earned all-tournament honors for Johnson County for the fourth year in a row after scoring twenty points and grabbing eleven rebounds in the game. Ashley Howard added ten points for the Lady Longhorns.
   April McCloud had five assists to wrap up the assist title for the tournament with sixteen overall.
   Charity Austin paced Avery's attack with sixteen points and Ashley Cole added eleven as the Lady Vikings won their first game in ten starts this season.