First of all, Happy Leap Year Day.
We’ve got an exciting weekend of preps coming in Carter County.
Elizabethton and Cloudland’s girls teams took their regularly won region titles Thursday night in Afton.
Elizabethton topped South Greene 61-59 for the 1-AA title, while Cloudland whipped Cosby 54-30 for the 1-A title.
Hampton’s boys, however, fell victim to a last-second shot in a 57-56 loss to the Jr. Bucs of University High.
All three teams will play with a shot at the state tournament on the line. The girls host games on Saturday, while Hampton’s boys take to the road on Monday.
Carter County Sub-state Schedule
Saturday’s Games
AA Girls: Stone Memorial (29-4) at Elizabethton (23-10), 7 p.m.
A Girls: Oliver Springs (24-8) at Cloudland (27-5), 7 p.m.
Monday’s Game
A Boys: Hampton (23-7) at Grace Christian (25-6), 7 p.m.
A few thoughts. It’s going to be hard for any of our teams to make the state tournament as Elizabethton and Cloudland’s girls and Hampton’s boys all drew tough matchups.. But we know anything can happen down the stretch.
The team who knocked Elizabethton out of state contention one year ago returns to Treadway Gymnasium Saturday. Stone Memorial went on a tear through District 4-AA play before falling to Austin-East, one of three teams to beat them this season, in the Region 2-AA finale at Anderson County. The Lady Cyclones will need their best effort to date on their home floor in order to pull out the win.
Oliver Springs’ girls team is very talented with a bright prospect in Kayla Christopher. The Lady Bobcats had won 12 in a row, including a District 3-A title, before falling to Wartburg in the Region 2-A finale. Oliver Springs had defeated Wartburg three times prior to that meeting. Needless to say, Cloudland got the tougher draw of the possible sub-state opponents, but it’s tough playing in Roan Mountain. Matt Birchfield will have his team ready to go Saturday.
Grace Christian’s boys and Hampton already met once this year, at Unaka, and the boys from Grace got the better of the Dogs’ 68-62 earlier in the season. Playing down in Knoxville won’t be an easy task for Jerry White’s team. But Coach White is one of the best postseason coaches in the state and he’ll have his team ready.
ETSU NOTE: Due to all the prep action this week, my ETSU notebook will be unavailable until the beginning of next week, but prior to the A-Sun Tournament in Nashville.
