COSBY-Neither coach drew it up the way it was played, and both were shaking their heads afterward. But, they'll take the victories as the Cosby Lady Eagles (1-0) skipped past Berean Christian (1-2) 57-35, while the Eagles (1-0) came away with a 67-50 victory over the Berean Eagles (0-3) Monday night in Cosby's season opener at the Eagles' Nest.

(GIRLS)

At times, it was hard to figure what the Cosby Lady Eagles were doing offensively. In the long run, it didn't hurt them as the Lady Eagles got a season-opening 22-point victory over Berean.

"There were plenty of times I couldn't tell you what we were doing offensively," said Lady Eagles head coach Richard Coggins. "We didn't know when to shoot or when to pass. But, somehow, we got it done. We had three players on the court tonight in their first high school game. We're so young that these things are bound to happen. It's going to take a while for these girls to gel. But, I'm confident it's going to happen. This is going to be a really good basketball team eventually."

The Lady Eagles jumped on Berean Christian for a 15-4 first-quarter lead by finding success inside with their lone senior Brittany Frisbee knocking down the first two buckets en route to a 19-point, seven rebound performance. Brooklyn Stuart also had a pair of two's while freshman Tiffany Smelcer had a bucket and two free throws.

"Brittany had a great game for us tonight," said coach Coggins. "They were beating on her. At one point, she got hit in the stomach and had to go to the locker room for a while. But, she came back with a vengeance. That's senior leadership right there."

It was Frisbee, Stuart and Smelcer continuing where they left off in the first quarter as the Lady Eagles played even with Berean in the second frame. Frisbee had two baskets and a free throw while Stuart knocked down the Lady Eagles first three-pointer of the night, and Smelcer canned a couple more free throws. Junior point guard Alyssa McManah had an old fashioned three-point play by sinking a basket, and after being fouled on the shot, made the ensuing free throw to give the Lady Eagles a 28-16 halftime lead.

Coach Coggins began going to his bench with regularity in the second half, and his players responded, especially Taylor Valentine, who scored all six of her points in the second half.

The Lady Eagles pushed their lead to 27, 47-20, at the end of the third quarter, and cruised home with the 22-point victory.

Defense was the key in the Lady Eagle victory as their full court pressure and tenacious man-to-man forced 41 Berean Christian turnovers on the night. But, the Lady Eagles had a few problems here and there handling the ball as well, finishing the night with 18 turnovers.

"We turned the ball over way too much," said coach Coggins. "We'll be working on cutting that number down. I was happy with our defensive effort though, and our press. And even though our offense looked a little sloppy, the girls stayed after it all night long. I liked their effort."

Making her first start in a Cosby uniform, freshman Tiffany Smelcer had nine points and four rebounds while Stuart finished with seven points and seven rebounds, and McMahan had seven points and three rebounds.

Center Kelly Hastings led Berean Christian with 12 points and nine rebounds.

COSBY (57): Brittany Frisbee 19, Tiffany Smelcer 9, Alyssa McMahan 7, Brooklyn Stuart 7, Taylor Valentine 6, Haley Helton 3, Whitney Black 2, Maddie Hall 2, Lexi Lowery 2.

BEREAN (35): Kelly Hastings 12, Abigail Jones 7, Caroline Graybeal 7, Lauren Dreitlein 5, Hannah Beeler 2, Ashley Lee 2.

CHS: 19/67 FG (28.3%), 3/20 3-PT FG (15%), 16/22 FT (72.7%), 30 RBS, 18 TO.

BC: 11/41 FG (26.8%), 1/6 3-PT FG (16.6%), 12/24 FT (50%), 39 RBS, 41 TO.

(BOYS)

The Eagles took the court for their first game of the season like a team possessed. But this one was a tale of two halves.

"The first half was probably one of the best I've seen here at Cosby in a number of years," said Eagles' head coach Brad Flatford. "But, it seemed like we were just coasting in the second half. We just didn't play well at all."

The Eagles jumped out to a 21-8 first quarter lead on three-pointers from Robert Herzog, Jake Ledford and Andrew Adams, three baskets inside from Corey Conard, and two baskets from Cocke County transfer Seth Wyatt.

Wyatt picked up two quick fouls, however, and was brought to the bench for most of the second quarter. But, the Eagle bench was up to the task, as Brandon Gates came on for two baskets, another Cocke County transfer, Jake Green, got four points, senior Nick Baxter knocked down the team's fourth three-pointer, Conard pumped in another three and Ledford a free throw to give the Eagles a comfortable 39-19 lead at the break.

"I was really happy with our bench," said coach Flatford. "Nick knocked down that three for us and Jake played really well tonight as did Brandon. Our bench was solid."

But, the mood would change in the second half after Wyatt scored the first two points of the third quarter to give the Eagles a 22-point lead. With the Eagles leading 43-21, Berean went on an 10-point run, eight of them from Nathan Mee, to make it 43-31 with about three-and-a-half minutes remaining.

"We just lost our focus," said coach Flatford. "We had built up this big lead, lost our focus, and they got back into the game. We weren't playing good defense and we were sloppy on offense, and it nearly cost us."

The Eagles managed to gather things up, however, and played Berean even the rest of the quarter thanks to five points from Conard and a free throw from Wyatt.

Zach Webb hit a big three off the bench for the Eagles to start the final frame and after another Mee bucket, Wyatt added another deuce. But, Berean went on another run, this time scoring nine unanswered points to cut the Cosby lead to 10, 56-46, with 3:53 remaining. But, it was Conard to the rescue, getting three more baskets en route to his game-high 20 points, while Green and Ledford added baskets, and Herzog and Adams sank free throws to give the Eagles the 17-point victory.

"We've got a similar problem that coach Coggins has on the girl's side," explained coach Flatford. "We're young. We started a couple of sophomores, and had one player that had never played before. We didn't do well from the free throw line and we had way too many turnovers. We're going to experience some growing pains, but if we play to our potential, we're going to be tough to beat."

In addition to his 20 points, Conard also hauled in seven boards while Wyatt had a double-double, finishing with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Ledford also made it into double figures finishing with 11 points and four rebounds.

Andrew Maples led the Berean Christian charge with a double-double, 16 points and 10 boards, while Nathan Mee chipped in 15 points and five rebounds on the night.

COSBY (67): Corey Conard 20, Seth Wyatt 11, Jake Ledford 11, Jake Green 6, Andrew Adams 5, Robert Herzog 4, Brandon Gates 4, Zach Webb 3, Nick Baxter 3.

BEREAN (50): Andrew Maples 16, Nathan Mee 15, Nathan Diambra 9, Michael Wilson 6, Bradley Sewell 2, Jacob Recaenback 2.

CHS: 25/54 FG (46.2%), 6/20 3-PT FG (30%), 10/27 FT (37%), 36 RBS, 24 TO.

BC: 18/56 FG (32.1%), 3/6 3-PT FG (50%), 11/15 FT (73.3%), 34 RBS, 23 TO.

UP NEXT

The Cosby Eagles and Lady Eagles jump right back into action tonight when they travel to Maryville Christian. Boy's junior varsity, under new head coach Jody Lowe, will tip things off at 5 p.m. followed by girl's varsity at 6:30 p.m. and boy's varsity at around 8 p.m.

Ironically, the Eagles and Lady Eagles will have seen nothing but Eagles and Lady Eagles after tonight's play. Berean Christian are the Eagles, and so is Maryville Christian.