Jr. Lady Dawgs complete state championship sweep for Celina
Beat Pickett Co. 35-30
for James C. Haile title
BRINGING HOME THE GOLD-The Celina Junior High Lady Bulldogs completed a state championship sweep for their school by bringing home the gold ball and winning the James C. Haile Class A State Championship last week in Murfreesboro. Pictured with their hardware are (front row, left to right) Baleigh Watson, Kenady May, Paige Matthews, Zoe Hayes, Abby Head, (standing, left to right) coach Phillip Matthews, Briley Burchett, Eliza Jenkins, Abby Eads, Lauren Weaver, Tori Headrick, Claire Grace, Cherokee Upton, Lexi Head, and coach Ashleigh Sbonek. (photo submitted)
By THOMAS P. WEAVER
HORIZON Editor
MURFREESBORO-The Celina K-8 Junior High Lady Bulldog basketball team completed a state championship sweep for their school here last week with a 35-30 victory over Pickett County, to win the James C. Haile Class A State Title.
The win followed the Jr. Dawgs’ becoming state champs two days earlier and came after the Jr. Lady Dawgs dominated Smyrna’s Thurman Francis school 51-13 in the opening round, blew out Middle Tennessee Christian 49-19 in the quarterfinals, and advanced to the championship game with a 33-25 final-four win over York.
HONORED FOR GREATNESS-Members of the Celina Jr. High Bulldog, Lady Bulldog, and cheerleader teams were all honored at the CCHS game against Clarkrange after both the boys and girls teams won their respective James C. Haile State Championships. Pictured (front row, left to right) are cheerleaders Tamara Smith, Haley Kirk, Zoe Seber, Kaylee Riddle, Katie Burnette, Anna Rae Collins, Bridget Cherry, Sophie Westmoreland, Kenley Trobaugh, Isabella Parent, and Allie Copeland; (second row, left to right) Jr. Lady Dawgs Abby Head, Lexi Head, Cherokee Upton, Kenady May, Tori Headrick, Paige Matthews, Abby Eads, Claire Grace, Eliza Jenkins, Lauren Weaver, Zoe Hayes, Briley Burchett, and Baieigh Watson; (third row, left to right) Jr. Dawgs Levi Garrett, Caleb McClerran, Sawyer Kerr, Carson Sharp, Joseph Marcom, Bryce Bailey, Kolby Boles, Alec Kerr, Jimmy Burchett, Gavin Beasley, and manager Jacob Coffelt; and (forth row, left to right) Jr. Dawgs Keaton Arms, Grant Strong, Aiden Kirk, John Hamilton, Tyler Harris, Jeffery Spivey, and Aden Smith. (photo submitted)
In the title game, Celina hit the ground running from the jump.
Zoe Hayes—who led the way for the Jr. Lady Dawgs with a game-high 13 points—took Lauren Weaver’s opening tip in for the game’s initial score.
Hayes then found her mark with a pull-up in the lane and a Weaver put-back quickly made it 6-0 in Celina favor, but Pickett County scored the next five unanswered to pull within one midway through the opening period.
Eliza Jenkins then drove the lane for the first two of her eight points on the night, to hand her team an 8-5 advantage at the end of one.
The low-scoring, see-saw battle continued the first three minutes of the second stanza, before Jenkins gave the Jr. Lady Dawgs their largest lead of the first half with consecutive makes. She scored on a running jumper in the paint and converted an offensive rebound into points to put her team ahead by five, 14-9.
The Jr. Lady Bobcats then ripped off five-straight to even the score with just over a minute remaining in the half, but Tori Headrick and Abby Head both found the basket before the buzzer, to send the Jr. Lady Dawgs into the break up 18-17.
With the opposing defense centered around stopping Celina’s inside game, Hayes, Jenkins, and Cherokee Upton carried the scoring load in the second half.
Hayes and Upton answered a Pickett County three early in the third with a field goal apiece to put Celina up two points, but the Jr. Lady Bobcats buried another from deep to claim what would turn out to be their only lead of the contest, 23-22 at the 4:28-mark of the third period.
That’s when the Jr. Lady Dawgs used a 9-0 surge spanning the remainder of the third and the opening minutes of the fourth quarter, to gain control.
Jenkins sparked the rally with a layup, Upton kept it going with a runner in the lane, and Hayes, after scoring in the paint, capped it with a three-pointer.
When the scoring burst was over, Celina led 31-23 and were just over three minutes away from claiming the gold ball.
But Pickett didn’t go down without a fight. When Briley Burchett found enough room to score underneath, the Jr. Lady Bobcats quickly answered, to pull within seven late, and started force-fouling.
After several Celina misses from the charity stripe, Upton was true on her pair of free-throw attempts and they were enough for the Jr. Lady Dawgs to secure the title with a final five-point margin.
LADY DAWGS (35)-Hayes 13, Jenkins 8, Upton 6, Weaver 2, Burchett 2, Headrick 2, Head 2.