Van Buren County coming to town Tuesday night

CELINA-The Clay County High School basketball season tipped off here last Thursday night in Joe Sims Gym and both the Lady Bulldogs and Bulldogs won their season openers against Watertown.

The Lady Dawgs beat the Lady Purple Tigers 45-43, while the Dawgs downed the Watertown boys 51-41.

The Clay County girls had three players score in double figures, with senior Ella Eads leading the way with 16 points and juniors Natalie Smith and Haylen Garrison both adding 12 points each.

Senior Baylor Walden (3) and freshman Brooklyn Scott (2) rounded out the scoring for the Lady Dawgs.

Garrison made four three-pointers in the contest, Smith scored half of her tally in the final frame, and Eads posted 10 of her team-high total in the fourth quarter to help secure the two-point win.

In the Dawgs 10-point victory over the Purple Tigers, senior Aaden Cherry paced Clay County with 13 points, while junior Julien Villa (11) and senior Warner Melton (10) also had double-digit scoring outings.

Sophomore Caden Copeland and freshman Parker Upchurch added six points each and junior Jake Copeland scored five points in the win.

After trailing the majority of the game, including 26-23 at halftime, Clay County outscored Watertown 20-8 in the fourth quarter to claim the victory.

Both teams also traveled to Jellico on Saturday, where the Lady Dawgs dominated by a score of 87-51 to get to 2-0 on the season, while the Dawgs fell 66-68 to the Blue Devils.

The Clay County squads were set to host Van Buren County Tuesday night, before taking the rest of the week off for Thanksgiving.

See next week’s HORIZON for details from that game and Clay County’s weekend trip to Jellico.