Lady Dragons claim district title
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Clinton High School’s Josie Moody dribbles along the baseline while being guarded by Anderson County’s Julia Owens during Friday night’s District 4-AAA matchup. Moody finished with 10 points, four rebounds and two blocked shots for the Lady Dragons. - Tony Cox
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Anderson County junior Bethany Lowe places a pink carnation on a chair at center court during the Anderson County High School–Clinton High School Pink Out for Cancer Awareness ceremony. The annual event honors cancer survivors and remembers those who lost their battle with the disease. - Tony Cox
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Clinton Lady Dragons senior Lanee Carmichael dribbles along the baseline toward the basket during Clinton’s game against Anderson County on Friday night. Carmi- chael finished with 10 points, five rebounds, three steals and two assists in the Lady Dragons’ 48-31 win over Anderson County High School. - Tony Cox
Clinton High School’s girls basketball team claimed the District 4-AAA regular-season championship Friday night — and did so with a measure of payback.
Clinton High School Lady Dragons traveled across town for a second meeting with rival Anderson County High School Lady Mavericks and came away with a 48-31 victory, avenging an earlier loss this season.
Clinton (25-2 overall, 7-1 district) leaned on its defense to secure the title.
“I thought we played well defensively, but we still didn’t have a great game offensively,” Lady Dragons coach Alicia Daugherty said. “But we played hard enough and worked hard enough to get the win.
“When you outwork and outhustle your opponent, you’re going to win. When you don’t, the opposite is going to happen.”
The Lady Dragons placed four players in double figures. Addi Gamble and Caylin Taylor scored 14 points apiece, while Josie Moody and Lanee Carmichael added 10 each.
Gamble finished with five rebounds, four steals, three assists and a blocked shot. Taylor recorded seven steals. Moody totaled four rebounds and two blocked shots, and Carmichael added five rebounds, three steals and two assists.
Clinton is coming off an 81-35 rout of Gibbs on Wednesday, Feb. 4, at the Don W. Lockard Gymnasium and has navigated one of the toughest schedules in East Tennessee. The Lady Dragons close the regular season with two challenging non-district games, traveling to Powell on Thursday and hosting Kingston on Friday.
“We had a tough, front-loaded schedule, and we played some good teams in Tampa,” Daugherty said. “We have two games left. We’ve beaten Powell, and they’re good, and then we play Kingston, a team we had to come from behind to beat.
“I think those games will help us get ready for the tournament. If you don’t work hard, anybody in our district can beat anybody else on any given night.”
Anderson County had little time to regroup, traveling to Union County on Saturday afternoon.
The Lady Patriots jumped out to a 13-6 lead, but the Lady Mavericks responded after halftime and pulled away for a 50-31 win, clinching the No. 2 seed in the upcoming district tournament and an automatic berth in the Region 2-AAA Tournament.
“I told the girls before the game that in the two games before Clinton, we had to fight and claw to win,” Anderson County coach Mitch Cupples said. “We didn’t do that against Clinton, but today we did.
“I was proud of the way the girls responded.”
Bethany Lowe led Anderson County with 22 points at Union County. Emerie Bullock scored nine, while Addison Grooms, Macy Basford and Khloe Johnson finished with five points each.
