Lady Dawgs host Jo Byrns Friday, Dawgs welcome Knowledge Academies to town Saturday

By THOMAS P. WEAVER

Horizon Editor

CELINA-With crucial District 7-A Tournament semifinal wins last week, both Clay County basketball teams were set to play for their respective conference championships to start this week, before hosting the first round of the Region 4-A Tournament here at Joe Sims Gym at week’s end.

The #2 seed Lady Bulldogs beat #3 seed Clarkrange 61-53 Friday night in their postseason opener behind double-figure outings from juniors Ella Eads and Baylor Walden, and sophomore Haylen Garrison—which set up Monday night’s title match with #1 seed Pickett County, who knocked off #4 seed Gordonsville 70-66 in their semifinal game.

Following suit the same night, junior Nolan Adams’ career-high outing, along with senior Lance Burchett and junior Cole Eads also scoring double-digits, paced the #3 seed Bulldogs to a 66-63 defeat of #2 seed Gordonsville in the boys semifinal round.

The win set up the Dawgs’ title-game date Tuesday night with #1 seed Pickett County, after the Bobcats took care of business against #4 seed Clarkrange by a score of 74-33 in their tournament opener.

By way of their semifinal wins, the Clay County teams earned home games in the opening round of the region tournament.

(Editor’s Note: The following portion of this story has been updated to reflect the results of the District 7-A Championships played after HORIZON press time Monday and Tuesday night)

Both the Lady Bulldogs and the Bulldogs finished as the District 7-A Tournament Runners-up, after falling to Pickett County in their respective championship games (see next week’s HORIZON for details).

The Lady Dawgs (14-13) are set to host Jo Byrns Friday night at 6 p.m., and the Bulldogs (18-7) will welcome Knowledge Academies to town Saturday night for a 7 p.m. tip.

The other three Region 4-A Girls Quarterfinals will feature Pickett County hosting Knowledge Academies, Gordonsville traveling to East Robertson, and Clarkrange making a trip to Merrol Hyde Friday night.

On the boys side Saturday night, Pickett County will take on Merrol Hyde in Byrdstown, Gordonsville will travel to East Robertson, and Clarkrange will take a trip to Jo Byrns.

The remainder of the Region 4-A Tournament will be held at Livingston Academy next Monday through Thursday.

Monday, March 3 will feature the Region 4-A girls semifinals and the boys semifinals were set to follow on Tuesday.  The girls championship will be played next Wednesday, March 5, while the boys championship will take place a day later on Thursday.

Sectional (substate) rounds featuring the top two teams from each region will be hosted by region champions on Saturday, March 8 (girls) and Monday, March 10 (boys).

The girls State Tournament begins on Tuesday, March 11 and the boys Elite Eight tips off a week later on Tuesday, March 18.

Lady Bulldogs……..61

Clarkrange….………53

The Lady Bulldogs earned their fifth-straight opportunity to play for a conference tournament championship with a 61-53 semifinal win over Clarkrange.

Haylen Garrison led the Lady Dawgs with 17 points, Ella Eads almost matched her with 16, and Baylor Walden added 12 in the victory.

Clay County trailed by one (12-13) at the end of the first quarter and by the same margin with two minutes to play in the first half, when senior Laci Wix sparked a Lady Bulldog 8-0 run to close out the second stanza.

Wix’s bucket was followed by back-to-back three-pointers from Eads and Walden, which surged Clay County ahead 30-23 at intermission.

The Lady Dawgs extended their advantage to as many as 12 points in the third quarter, before the Lady Buffaloes cut it to nine (45-36) heading into the final frame.

Clarkrange then scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to get within four points of Clay County, but sophomore Natalie Smith answered with a three to push the Lady Dawgs’ lead back to seven points at the 6:30-mark.

Eads and Garrison both also responded with three-pointers of their own down the stretch, which helped Clay County go on to claim the eight-point victory.

LADY DAWGS (61)-Garrison 17, Eads 16, Walden 12, Wix 8, Smith 6, Claire Kendall 2.

Bulldogs………..……66

Gordonsville…………63

Behind a 31-point peformance from Nolan Adams, 19 from Cole Eads, and 11 added by Lance Burchett, the Bulldogs got past Gordonsville by a score of 66-63 in the semifinals of the boys conference tournament and advanced to play in the District 7-A Championship for the ninth time in 11 years.

Adams paced Clay County with nine first-quarter points to allow them to lead 14-11 at the end of one, before Eads knocked down a trio of threes in the second stanza to put the Dawgs up 31-25 at the break.

Adams then added 10 more points in the third quarter, including eight of a Clay County 11-0 run, which handed the Dawgs their largest lead of the game at 42-27.

But Gordonsville came roaring back and outscored Clay County 18-4 to head into the fourth quarter only trailing by one (46-45).

Burchett, Adams, and Eads—who was a perfect five for five from behind the arc on the night, then all made threes in the final frame to keep pace with the Tigers.

Burchett buried his when Gordonsville tied the game at 48 early in the period, and Adams and Eads did so to answer Tiger makes from distance shortly after.

Clay County eventually made enough free throws in the waning seconds to hold off Gordonsville down the stretch.

With 1.9 seconds remaining, Burchett stepped to the line and accounted for the final three-point margin, after a Tiger made three had turned it into a one-point game with three seconds to play.

DAWGS (66)-Adams 31, Eads 19, Burchett 11, Warner Melton 3, Jake Copeland 2.