©2010 NPT PHOTO BY SETH BUTLER

CCHS Lady Red junior guard Jayla Lane in action on Tuesday night
against Cherokee. Cocke County won the game 48-38 to improve
to 18-4 overall and 8-2 in District 2-AAA play.

NEWPORT-Cocke County High School's basketball teams celebrated homecoming in style on Tuesday night, taking a sweep of District 2-AAA (Inter Mountain Athletic Conference) foe Cherokee on the hardwood.

The Fighting Cocks avenged an earlier defeat to the Chiefs and used an improved shooting effort in a 72-58 decision to climb back to the .500 mark in conference play and jump into a tie for third place in the loss column with Morristown East.

Earlier in the night, the tenth-ranked Lady Red slept walked through a 48-38 decision over the Lady Chiefs as a tune-up to playing top-ranked Morristown West tonight.

 

IMPROVED SHOOTING PUTS BIG RED ON TOP

During their recent tough stretch of basketball, Cocke County coach Ray Evans has challenged his team to do the little things.

Cocke County (14-7, 5-5) did enough little things to knock off the Cherokee Chiefs (11-12, 3-8) on Tuesday night.

Yet the biggest thing was their offensive first half.

CCHS shot 52 percent in the first half and had two players in double figures on their way to a 42-31 halftime lead that was only seriously challenged one time in the second half.

"We didn't shoot well our last game out, free throws especially," Evans said. "We came out tonight and set a pretty good tone in the first half."

Marcus Stewart and Chase Atkins paced CCHS in the first half with 12 and 10 points respectively, and Atkins, who finished the game with a double-double, led Cocke County with six rebounds, which were part of a 23 rebound performance for his team.

Overall, the Fighting Cocks out rebounded Cherokee 43-27 in the game, and was part of the little things Evans challenged his team to overcome.

"If they realize how good they can be when they do the little things, they'd be tough to beat," said Evans of his team. "My challenge to them was to check their hearts, and I told them at halftime tonight they could run off with this team if they controlled the boards and did the little things right."

Cocke County's lead was cut to six after the Fighting Cocks went scoreless over the first 3:40 of the third quarter, but they quickly rebounded to go back up by double digits to end the third quarter. Again, Cherokee made another run at the start of a quarter opening by outscoring CCHS 10-4 to start the fourth period.

However, Cocke County closed out on the defensive glass, just as they did in the third quarter, to put an end to Cherokee's run and then put the game out of reach in the final half of the fourth period.

COCKE COUNTY (72): Marcus Stewart 5-9 7-10 18; Jeramie Haney 6-13 1-2 14; Chase Atkins 5-7 4-4 14; Casey Ragan 3-7 3-3 9; Jared McGaha 3-3 0-0 8; Logan Suggs 1-2 4-4 6; Krys Cates 1-3 0-1 2; Heath Ford 0-5 1-2 1. Totals 24-49 20-26 72.

CHEROKEE (58): Matt Hale 10-17 1-7 21; James Scales 5-7 3-3 13; Logan Bailiff 3-13 1-3 7; Ty Ryans 2-6 0-0 5; Jon Eric Buck 2-6 0-0 4; Tyler Risner 1-6 1-3 4; Zach Lawson 0-0 2-2 2; Deshand Bradley 1-2 0-1 2. Totals 24-57 8-19 58.

Cherokee......................   15   16   11   16  -   58

Cocke County..................   16   26    9   21  -   72

3-point goals--Cherokee 2-10 (Tyler Risner 1-2; Ty Ryans 1-4; Logan Bailiff 0-2; James Scales 0-1; Matt Hale 0-1), Cocke County 4-15 (Jared McGaha 2-2; Jeramie Haney 1-4; Marcus Stewart 1-4; Logan Suggs 0-1; Heath Ford 0-2; Casey Ragan 0-2). Fouled out--Cherokee-Matt Hale, Cocke County-None. Rebounds--Cherokee 27 (Matt Hale 6; Tyler Risner 6), Cocke County 43 (Chase Atkins 13). Assists--Cherokee 4 (James Scales 2; Logan Bailiff 2), Cocke County 9 (Heath Ford 2; Krys Cates 2; Casey Ragan 2; Marcus Stewart 2). Total fouls--Cherokee 23, Cocke County 14. Technical fouls--Cherokee-None, Cocke County-TEAM.

 

LADY RED STRUGGLE, BUT WIN

The only thing pretty about the Lady Red (No. 10 AP, Class AAA, 18-4, 8-2) victory over Cherokee (4-15, 1-10) on Tuesday night was that it was a victory.

Cocke County struggled mightily on offense, shooting only 26.8 percent from the floor and was out of sync all evening in trying to establish any kind of half court game.

"We just didn't come ready to play tonight," Lady Red coach Wade Wester said. "We've not practiced well lately and it showed.

"We've got to get mentally right and can't be playing blah like we did tonight, heading into our last four conference games, because those are our season in a nutshell," Wester said.

The Lady Red defensively however kept close tabs on the Lady Chiefs, holding them to 15 first half points, which allowed CCHS to claim a 23-15 edge at the break. The halftime lead was a struggle to come by for Cocke County

Those eight points were enough margin to keep some separation on Cherokee, who tried to fight their way back into the game in the third quarter, but were never able to pull closer than 33-26 with 1:54 to play in the period.

Cocke County widened their lead to as many as 16 points in the fourth quarter, but never appeared to be in sync or in control of the game offensively.

COCKE COUNTY (48): Allie Sprouse 6-14 4-4 16; Jalese Pruitt 4-9 3-6 11; Shannon Depew 3-10 4-4 10; Kendra Walker 1-4 3-8 5; Jayla Lane 1-10 0-0 3; Alison Atha 0-0 2-2 2; Nicole Ball 0-3 1-2 1; Jordan Kohnke 0-0 0-0 0; Baily Davis 0-0 0-0 0; Ashley Gregg 0-0 0-0 0; Cidney Ball 0-5 0-0 0; Samantha Ray 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-56 17-26 48.

CHEROKEE (38): Christina Maddox 4-6 2-4 10; Casey Ryans 2-9 3-3 7; Pattie Taylor 1-2 4-6 6; Lindsee Price 3-7 0-0 6; Sally Fleenor 1-3 0-0 3; Serenity Ewing 1-2 0-0 2; Alieece Luster 1-5 0-0 2; Brittany Johnson 0-6 2-2 2; Emma Stewart 0-0 0-0 0; Summer Cavin 0-0 0-0 0; Kylie Russell 0-0 0-0 0; Morgan Brewer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-41 11-15 38.

Cherokee......................   10    5   11   12  -   38

Cocke County..................   11   12   12   13  -   48

3-point goals--Cherokee 1-9 (Sally Fleenor 1-3; Casey Ryans 0-1; Lindsee Price 0-2; Brittany Johnson 0-3), Cocke County 1-10 (Jayla Lane 1-5; Shannon Depew 0-2; Kendra Walker 0-1; Cidney Ball 0-2). Fouled out--Cherokee-Sally Fleenor, Cocke County-None. Rebounds--Cherokee 36 (Alieece Luster 7; Casey Ryans 7), Cocke County 41 (Shannon Depew 11). Assists--Cherokee 10 (Casey Ryans 4), Cocke County 9 (Kendra Walker 3). Total fouls--Cherokee 20, Cocke County 16. Technical fouls--Cherokee-None, Cocke County-None.

 

DISTRICT 2-AAA ACTION

With two weeks remaining in the regular season, the District 2-AAA standings are becoming clearer.

In games on Tuesday night, Morristown West swept Seymour, Sevier County swept South Doyle and Jefferson County swept Morristown East.

Tuesday's games leave the following standings in the girls' league: Morristown West (9-0), Cocke County (8-2), Jefferson County (7-3), Seymour (5-4), Sevier County (6-5), Morristown East (5-7), Cherokee (1-10), South Doyle (1-11).

Standings in the boys' league: Sevier County (10-1), Jefferson County (9-1), Morristown East (7-5), Cocke County (5-5), South Doyle (4-8), Cherokee (3-8), Morristown West (2-7), Seymour (2-7).

 

UP NEXT

Cocke County returns to action tonight when they host Morristown West. The Lady Red meet the state's top-ranked Lady Trojans beginning at 6:30 p.m., with varsity boys to follow.