GLADEVILLE — Once upon a time, women’s basketball at Mt. Juliet vs.
These days, the state as a whole pays no attention to the rivalry. But it’s still important to the great West Wilson community that turned out for Senior Night and the teams still do it like championships are on the line.
That may be one of the reasons the Lady Wildcats defeated the Lady Bears 36-34 on Senior Night at Central last Friday for just their third win of the season, the players greeting each other on the court as if they had won. the state.
“It’s not the days of Bud Brandon and John Wild here, but this game mattered as much to those girls as it did to the girls of John Wild and Bud Brandon,” said Lady Wildcats first-year coach Jason Knowles, referring to the the first two coaches of the program.
“It’s a great rivalry game,” Mt. Juliet coach Joseph Hiett said. “Congratulations to Jason. He has done a great job with the program. Those girls play hard. Their record is not indicative of how hard they have played. They’ve been in a lot of close games.
“The takeaway tonight is that the Mt. Juliet girls didn’t step up to the task at hand. It is not a one person thing. We didn’t take a step forward.”
Kendyle Pickett’s short jumper with 34 seconds left in overtime broke a 34-34 tie. He missed two free throws that would have extended the lead, but the Lady Bears missed their final shot and the Lady Wildcats, three nights after absorbing a 47-point loss in Lebanon, were 3-14 on the season but 1-1. in District. 9-4A.
“We had a great week of practice,” Knowles said. “We came out, we fought hard. I couldn’t be more pleased with our effort tonight.”
Mt. Juliet has eight wins against now 14 losses. But the Lady Bears, playing their first district game, are 0-1 in the league.
Central showed very quickly that this was not last Tuesday night in Lebanon when the Lady Wildcats led 5-4 at halftime in the first quarter.
The Lady Bears finally got their first 12-10 lead on Unity Jordan’s baseline jumper 2:35 before halftime. Central got back in front before Mt. Juliet built a 15-14 halftime lead on Adelyn Kendall’s buzzer-beater 3-pointer off the glass.
“He was in a zone and we had a feeling that that was what he was going to do all week and we had prepared for it,” Hiett said. “Early in the game, we didn’t go into our offensive teams. The same in the second half. We did not enter the offensive teams that we knew would work against their zone”.
The Lady Wildcats made their move two minutes into the second half when center Lillian Crutchfield scored off the post to put the Central ahead 18-17. The home team opened a 22-19 lead entering the quarter and 26-19 at the start of the final stanza. But Jakoria Woods, who played her freshman season at Central before the rezoning caused by the opening of Green Hill moved her to Mt. Juliet, didn’t score until the fourth quarter when the 1,000-point scorer scored seven of her nine points. to mark a comeback. . His layup put the Lady Bears in front 31-29 with less than two minutes to go.
“We contacted our press and the goal was not to catch her,” Knowles said of the super-fast Woods. “We thought she could beat the trap. So instead of catching her, we let her walk the ball across the floor, she slowed down at the end.”
Jamey Ricketts hit both of his 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, one of which brought the Central to a 32-32 deadlock with 1:32 to play. A steal by Taylor Haymans gave Mt. Juliet one last chance to win. But a 3-pointer missed and the buzzer sounded during the ensuing on-court brawl, treating fans to four minutes of free basketball before Senior Night ceremonies began.
Two free throws, on separate trips, by Crutchfield, pushed the Lady Wildcats to a 34-32 lead with 1:15 left in overtime. Mt. Juliet responded with a par from the line by Woods, giving him a team-high nine points.
Crutchfield led the Lady Wildcats with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Kristen Smith scored seven points, Pickett and Ricketts six each, Cloe Smith three and Akeley Thompson and Jaiden White two each.
Jordan and Kendall each added eight points to the Mt. Juliet total, while Claire Emery finished with four, Evie Johnston with 3 and Kayley Jones with two.
Mt. Juliet will host Cookeville today at 6 pm in district action, while Central has a bye. The Lady Wildcats will go to Green Hill at 6 pm on Friday.
Devilettes recovers to beat LakewayLebanon struggled in the middle two quarters of a 60-35 loss to visiting Cookeville in District 9-4A action last Friday at Campbell Brandon Gym/Hester Gibbs Court.
Cookeville held an 11-10 lead in the first quarter before outscoring Lebanon 21-12 in the second for a 32-22 halftime lead. The Lady Cavaliers surpassed that pace further by a third from 20-3 as they improved to 16-3 for the season and 2-0 in the district.
Lebanon committed 18 turnovers to Cookeville’s nine as the Lady Cavaliers made 48 shots to the Devilettes’ 33. They outscored LHS on turnover points 21-2.
Cassie Gallagher led the Lady Cavaliers in scoring with 13 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Jordan Gillies chipped in 10 points to go with 10 rebounds and six assists.
Ta’Kisa Hastings led Lebanon with 10 points, including a pair of three-pointers. Finley Tomlin scored seven points, Tiara Spencer five, Ashaunna Rowe four, Madison Jennings three, and Keeli Davis, Tiffany Harrigan, and Ro Dowell two each as the Devilettes fell to 1-1 in district play.
Lebanon bounced back the following night with a 59-36 thrashing of Lakeway Christian in the Kay Maynard Showcase.
The Devilettes led 10-6 at the first quarter break, 22-15 at halftime and 43-24 in the third quarter to improve to 14-6.
Hastings hit three 3-pointers to lead Lebanon with 22 points and four steals. Spencer also sank three 3-pointers for her nine, while Rowe and Trinity Franzen each finished with eight. Davis finished with five points and five assists, while Harrigan had four points and seven deflections. Dowell made two free throws and Sa’mya Reedy made one.
Kayla Underwood led Lakeway with 11 points, while Kami Wilson shot 10.
Lebanon will return to district action today when Green Hill visits Brandon Gym/Gibbs Court for a 6 pm kickoff.
Friendship falls at Clarksville Academy 61-18Clarksville Academy posted a 61-18 victory at the Friendship Christian’s Bay Family Sportsplex last Friday night.
The Lady Cougars led 15-1 at the first quarter break and 34-9 at halftime.
Former Mt. Juliet Christian point guard Shinae Johnson led the Lady Cougars with 13 points, while Alyia Moss and McKenna Phillips each finished with 12.
Lily Maggart led the Lady Commanders with four points while Sister Liz chipped in three.
Kate Petty, Savannah Bone and Avery Morrison each had two points and Rylee Agee, Sara Allums and Maggie Reed each had a free throw.
Amistad will travel to Nashville Christian today at 6 pm.