COSBY-Not exactly the way the Cosby Eagles and Lady Eagles wanted their first performances in front of the home folks to be, but it wasn't because they didn't give it everything they had.

The Lady Eagles (0-3) gave Gatlinburg-Pittman (2-2) everything they could handle through the first three quarters, only to disappear in the fourth quarter in a 69-53 loss.

The Eagles (2-2) were coming off two straight wins, and went toe-to-toe with the Highlanders (5-0) to the final shot, but came up three points short, 54-51.

Lady Eagles still working

It's still a work in progress for the Lady Eagles. Through their first three games, they've found points hard to come by at times, and are still looking to gel as a team with new faces searching for a role on the court and off the bench. The Lady Eagles have shown, at times, the kind of team they can be, but have yet to be able to sustain that level for four quarters.

The good news is that senior wing Stevie Gorrell got her first start of the season, but is still recovering from a hip flexer.

The first half was played at a furious pace with both teams moving up and down the court, especially the Lady Eagles. The Lady Highlanders held an 18-14 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Lady Eagles fought back to get even at the break, 32-32. Senior point guard Whitney Hartsell stepped to the forefront early, hitting the first shot of the game, a three pointer, and going on to 10 first-quarter points, 12 for the first half. Unfortunately for Whitney, the 12 points would be her game total.

Brittany Frisbee gave the Lady Eagles a good start to the second half, hitting the first bucket of the third quarter for a two-point lead. But, the Lady Highlanders scored 14 of the next 16 points before Jessi Daruna and Alyssa McMahan combined for nine points to pull the Lady Eagles to within five, 50-45, heading into the final eight minutes. That's when the wheels fell off!

The Lady Highlanders scored 17 unanswered points over the first five-and-a-half minutes of the final quarter to do the Lady Eagles in. Although McMahan hit a three-pointer for the Lady Eagles first points of the quarter, and she and Daruna would combine for the Lady Eagles final eight points, it was too little, too late as the Lady Highlanders came away with the 16-point victory.

Despite playing close through the first three quarters, there were areas that really took their toll on the Lady Eagles. The Lady Highlanders practically lived on the free throw line, hitting 24 of 35 charity tosses in the game. The Lady Eagles fired up a total of 74 shots in the game, but managed only 19 field goals. And, the Lady Eagle defense forced 24 Lady Highlander turnovers.

Freshman Alyssa McMahan lead the Lady Eagles with 13 points, while Becca Owens had a game-high 19 points to pace the Lady Highlanders. Brooklyn Stuart lead the Lady Eagles on the boards, hauling down 10 rebounds on the night.

Cosby scoring (53): Alyssa McMahan 13, Whitney Hartsell 12, Jessi Daruna 8, Stevie Gorrell 6, Brittany Frisbee 6, Kalsea Mantooth 4, Megan Tinker 4.

Gatlinburg-Pittman scoring (69): Becca Owens 19, Jaclyn Hardin 11, Leah Bryan 10, Caroline Conner 8, Katie Tierney 6, Abi Edwards 4, Lacee Tinker 4, Macy Shults 3, Alisha Johnson 2.

Team Stats

CHS: 17/74 FG (26%), 4-16 3-PT FG (25%), 9-21 FT (43%), 37 REB, 9 TO.

GPHS: 20-48 FG (42%), 5-6 3-PT FG (83%), 24-35 FT (69%), 44 REB, 24 TO.

Eagle battle royal

For a basketball fan, this was an exciting game to watch as two evenly matched teams fought tooth and nail for the entire 36 minutes. Neither team had leads larger that four points, and the final difference was only three.

Eagle senior Trenten Dunn would rather play all 36 minutes. Resting on the bench is simply not his style. And, Dunn figured out how to play the entire 36 minutes by scoring early and often. The Eagles three-point loss overshadowed Dunn's 34-point performance, which included six three-pointers and four rebounds.

Both teams were bumping and grinding from the opening tip, and only a single point separated them at the end of the first quarter with the Highlanders in front 14-13.

That bumping and grinding continued through the next eight minutes, and the score at the break was just a two-point margin for the Highlanders.

Dunn finished with 10 points in the first quarter, and added four more in the second frame.

The battle continued in the third, with both teams trading baskets and free throws to make it 43-42 Highlander heading into the final frame.

Dunn put the Eagles in front, hitting his fifth three-pointer to start the last eight minutes. Following two more baskets by Dunn, including his sixth three-pointer, the Eagles had a three-point lead, 50-47. But, the Highlanders scored six unanswered points to regain the lead by three. Chris Grooms knocked down a free throw for the Eagles to pull to within two, but Taylor Ogle sank a free throw to push it back to three for the Highlanders with 13.6 seconds remaining. The Eagles suffered a turnover on their ensuing possession, and immediately fouled. But, Taylor Ogle missed the front end of a one-and-one giving the Eagles one final shot. And, the shot was a good one as Robert Herzog took the ball across the time line, and just outside the three-point arc, fired up a shot at the buzzer. The shot was perfectly on line, but pinged off the front of the rim preserving the Highlanders victory.

Dunn finished with a game-high 34 points for the Eagles while Alex Hinton had 16 points to pace the Highlanders.

Cosby scoring (51): Trenten Dunn 34, Spencer Grooms 6, Jonathan Manning 4, Chris Grooms 3, Zach Webb 3, Nick Baxter 1.

Gatlinburg-Pittman scoring (54): Alex Hinton 16, Taylor Ogle 10, Jake Jackson 6, McKinley Maples 6, John Edwards 5, Drew Barton 5, Nathan Cantrell 4, Jon McCroskey 2.

Team Stats

CHS: 17-43 FG (39%), 7-12 3-PT FG (58%), 10-16 FT (63%), 24 REB, 17 TO.

GPHS: 22-47 FG (48%), 4-10 3-PT FG (40%), 4-10 FT (40%), 24 REB, 12 TO.

JUNIOR VARSITY

It was a tale of two halves in the girl's junior varsity contest. The Lady Eagles controlled the game early, leading 16-9 after the first quarter and 23-19 at the break. But, the second half belonged to the Lady Highlanders as they stormed back for a 36-27 third quarter lead, and slipped away with an eight-point victory, 46-38.

Cosby scoring (38): Madison Hall 11, Alyssa McMahan 10, Tiffany Hartsell 7, Taylor Valentine 5, Whitney Black 3, Emily Hall 2.

UP NEXT

Cosby enters District play this Friday, Dec. 5, when they travel to tiny Clinch High School in Grainger County. The evening will tip off with junior varsity action at 4:30 p.m., followed by girl's varsity at 6:30 p.m. and boy's varsity at around 8 p.m.