SEYMOUR-The Cocke County High School Lady Red made a living off of its defense for much of the 2012-13 campaign.

It paid off with a championship on Saturday night.

The latest strong defensive effort gave the No. 1 Lady Red a championship clinching victory over No. 2 Morristown West by a 44-32 score in the District 2-AAA Tournament title game at Seymour High School. Morristown West was held scoreless over the first 9:11 of the game and shot only 19 percent from the field.

"Defense is the name of our game," said Cocke County first-year coach Jeremy Byrd. "We get after it from the opening tip to the final buzzer."

Cocke County (20-9) was able to play shut down defense and control the paint against the decisively larger Lady Trojans (20-9). The Lady Red held a 41-23 advantage on the boards and only allowed a single second chance point in the game.

Morristown West was never able to get its post play on track as All-District forwards Jecca Simerly and Christian Zimmerman played a combined 35 minutes due to foul trouble. Simerly picked up her third foul with three seconds left in the first half and her fourth foul just 15 seconds into the third period.

"I told the girls before the game that whoever controls the paint will win the game," said Byrd, who was named District 2-AAA Coach of the Year. "We had to play tough because (Morristown West) has some posts that beat and bang with the best of them.

"I was really proud of my girls because those two posts were All-District and I didn’t have a post (player) that made All-District,”"Byrd said. "That says a lot about their heart."

For the full story, see the February 19th edition of the Newport Plain Talk.