Lady Horns Sweep Unaka: The Tomahawk

Lady Horns sweep Unaka in season opener

By Tim Chambers

Johnson County has received plenty of spankings in past years. On Thursday they began the season by taking Unaka to the woodshed.

They dealt the Lady Rangers a 46-5 defeat behind a tenacious defense. It was something that head coach Kechia Eller was hoping to see.

“I told our kids that we had to play our game and not worry about what our opponents did,” said Eller. “That starts with our defense. We picked up several steals that got us some baskets early plus we were able to keep fresh players on the floor. It’s a good thing because our bench is so deep so we can play a lot of players. Our kids did great tonight. I’m proud of the way we played.”

Eller had to like the first quarter because the defense set the tone during the first three minutes of the game.

Taylor Parsons contributed three steals that led to six points. She had a basket as did Natalie Winters and Sadie Stout.

They built a 16-0 lead after one.

Parsons got them off to another blazing start during the second stanza. Her length and wing span wrecked havoc on Unaka’s press offense.

She scored off a steal then Stout managed to part the Rangers’ defense for a runner down the paint plus a long trey.

A trio of deuces in the final three minutes by Abby Cornett, Taylor Cox and Adrian Hall enabled the Lady Longhorns to take 29-4 lead at the half.

“We feed off one another and our defense,” said Parsons. “If one person gets a steal then it pumps all of us up. We feed off positive just like when Hannah Brooks made that three. Up here people go home and they talk about boys’ basketball. We girls are going to change that in the next couple of years. We want them to still talk about how good the boys are, but we also want them to talk about us too.”

For the rest of the story, pick up a copy of this week's Tomahawk.

(Story provided by: The Tomahawk)