ROGERSVILLE-Up against one of the bigger teams in theInter Mountain Athletic Conference, the Cocke County Lady Red needed a tallperformance from someone. Instead, they got two.

Senior Shannon Depew led the team with 17 first halfpoints, as part of a 20-point, 10-rebound effort, and 6-foot-2 junior AllieSprouse answered in the second half with nine points to give the Lady Red a50-39 road victory.

Later in the evening, the Fighting Cocks saw free-throwshooting woes lead them to their second straight conference loss, falling 57-54to the Chiefs.

 

LADY RED ROLL

With stagnation taking place in the Cocke County offensein the first half, Depew grabbed the offense and took over, scoring 15 pointson 6-of-11 shooting. The senior, who leads the team in scoring with 15.8 pointsper game, also knocked down a pair of three-point shots.

"Shannon came out and shot the ball real well andwas offensive minded," Cocke County coach Wade Wester said. "That'sthe way I want her to play the whole game.

"Sometimes, in the second half, she gets worriedabout shooting too much," Wester said. "She needs to think scoreevery time she touches it."

Depew only scored five second half points and took threefield-goal attempts, but junior Allie Sprouse was the big force in widening theteam's five-point margin at the break.

Cocke County (9-2, 4-1)  held their largest lead after Depew's second successfulthree-point shot with 5:20 to play in the first half that gave Cocke County a21-11 lead over the Lady Chiefs (2-8, 0-5). That lead was whittled down to24-19 at halftime.

"We talked about it at halftime, that we let anaverage team play with us and gain some confidence," Wester said. "Itold (the team) I was hoping that someone, whether it was Jalese, Allie orsomeone, would step up. It was Allie's night to step up."

Sprouse's nine second half points came as she connectedon three-of-four buckets from the field and gave the team a performance thatwill be vital to their future successes the remainder of the season.

"Allie came out in the second half and probablyplayed the best I've seen her play," Wester said. "She was determinedto play well.

"I hope this was her coming out party, because Allieis the key for our team," Wester said. "If we get her going andJalese playing like she is and stays consistent, we're going to cause somedamage."

Cocke County steadily increased their lead in the secondhalf, increasing their lead to 37-22 just over four minutes into the secondhalf.

The Lady Chiefs trimmed the lead down to ten points, at a46-36 with a 7-2 run to begin the fourth quarter. However, after Sprouse hit alay-up at the 5:43 mark to push the lead back to 12 points.

Following the lay-up, no one scored for over five minutesas the game was met by sloppy play back and forth, with both teams seeminglygoing through the motions. The two teams combined for seven turnovers in thescoreless stretch.

Wester attributed his team's play down the stretch totheir conditioning.

"Tonight is the first time I've noticed we arereally out of shape and that bothered me," Wester said. "We've got toget our legs under us to be able to play four quarters. By playing only eightgirls right now, we've got to be in shape."

The scoreless streak did not mean the Lady Chiefs did nothave their chances to score, as they were 0-of-7 from the field over thefive-minute stretch, with all seven misses coming from three-point range.

By virtue of the win, the Lady Red will have a key battlewith Jefferson County on Friday night in Dandridge. The winner will claim solepossession of second place in the conference one-game shy of the conferenceschedules' halfway point.

"It is not the season or anything, there's still alot of basketball left win or lose, but it's an important game and I would loveto get this one," Wester said. "This would be a great Christmas presentfrom the girls to their coach."

In order to gain that victory, Wester said the team willhave to perform better on Friday.

"Hopefully we can put together a great game, becauseif we play like we did tonight, it's not going to be pretty (for us)," Westersaid. "We've got to get everything in order as we go up against a greatbasketball team."

COCKE COUNTY (50): Shannon Depew 8-14 1-4 20; AllieSprouse 3-8 4-6 10; Morgan Buda 1-6 6-6 8; Jalese Pruitt 4-8 0-1 8; Jayla Lane1-4 0-0 3; Kendra Walker 0-0 1-3 1; Cidney Ball 0-3 0-0 0; Samantha Ray 0-2 0-00. Totals 17-45 12-20 50.

CHEROKEE (39): Christina Maddox 6-8 0-2 12; BrittanyJohnson 3-10 2-6 10; Casey Ryans 2-11 2-2 7; Alieece Luster 2-4 0-1 4; LindseePrice 1-7 0-1 3; Kylie Russell 1-1 0-0 3; Emma Stewart 0-0 0-0 0; Summer Cavin0-0 0-0 0; Morgan Brewer 0-0 0-0 0; Serenity Ewing 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-42 4-1239.

3-point goals: Cocke County 4-8 (Shannon Depew 3-4; JaylaLane 1-3; Morgan Buda 0-1). Cherokee 5-19 (Brittany Johnson 2-8; Lindsee Price1-5; Casey Ryans 1-5; Kylie Russell 1-1). Fouled out: Cocke County-None.Cherokee-None. Rebounds: Cocke County 36 (Shannon Depew 10). Cherokee 31(Christina Maddox 12). Assists: Cocke County 11 (Morgan Buda 5). Cherokee 11(Brittany Johnson 4). Total fouls: Cocke County 17. Cherokee 18. Technicalfouls: Cocke County-None. Cherokee-None.

 

FREE-THROWS DOOM FIGHTING COCKS

Life on the road dictates that a team must take theopportunities they are given to win the game.

Cocke County did not take advantage of that on Tuesdaynight.

In dropping their 57-54 game to the Chiefs, Cocke Countywent cold from the free-throw line going 8-of-19, with five misses cominginside the game's final 3:46.

"When you're shooting 40 percent from the free-throwline and getting beat by a couple of points, it is hard to take that,"Cocke County coach Ray Evans said. "The guys understand that, they playedhard enough to win this game, they shot good enough to win this game, just notfrom the free-throw line."

Cherokee (7-4, 2-3) meanwhile was only given six trips tothe free-throw line, converting five of those chances.

The loss will also be tough to stomach for the FightingCocks (8-3, 3-2) after seeing a nine-point third quarter lead slip through thecracks.

Cocke County took a 20-18 lead into halftime after a slowpace in the second quarter, as the Chiefs settled into a 2-2-1 zone defensivegame plan and slowed their tempo offensively.

Junior guard Heath Ford seemed intent on putting the gameout of reach to start the second half, scoring the first seven points in 72seconds giving Cocke County a 27-18 lead.

However a pair of Cherokee three-point baskets made theCocke County lead shrink to one and the Chiefs took the lead on a Matt Halejumper. Hale was held to two points in the first half, but exploded for 15 inthe second half to lead all scorers.

Evans said he felt that his defense lost the effort andintensity it had all game during those few minutes that allowed the Chiefs toget back into the game.

"We hit a dead spot there for 2-3 minutes in thethird quarter after we went up on them by nine," Evans said. "Otherthan that two or three minute spell, I thought our defense and effort was muchbetter (Tuesday than it was on Friday)."

After taking a 37-37 score into the fourth quarter, theFighting Cocks took two leads in the fourth quarter, but a pair of big plays byCherokee freshman Ty Ryans put the game out of reach.

With his team clinging to a one-point lead, Ryans grabbeda rebound and hit Hale in the corner that drained the three-point shot to putthe Chiefs up 46-42 with 5:27 remaining.

After the Fighting Cocks cut that lead to three, Ryansgrabbed an offensive rebound off a missed jumper by Logan Bailiff in the cornerand drained a three-point shot of his own and gave the Chiefs a 49-43 lead with3:14 to play.

Cocke County battled back; cutting the lead back down tothree points six times, the last coming with 0.8 seconds play. The inboundspass following a timeout after the last basket, was tipped by Krys Cates andfound Marcus Stewart, who heaved a desperation heave under contact. However,once the pass was tipped the clock did not start, which would have renderedStewart's final shot attempt after the buzzer had the clock started.

The loss drops CCHS to 3-2 in conference play, makingFriday's showdown with Jefferson County key. Jefferson County upset MorristownEast on Tuesday by nine points.

A Cocke County win over the Patriots would vault theFighting Cocks back into second place, two games behind first place SevierCounty.

COCKE COUNTY (54): Marcus Stewart 6-15 3-9 16; JeramieHaney 4-9 2-2 12; Chase Atkins 5-10 2-4 12; Heath Ford 4-8 1-2 11; Casey Ragan1-6 0-0 3; Jared McGaha 0-0 0-0 0; Logan Suggs 0-1 0-0 0; Roger Helton 0-0 0-00; Krys Cates 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 20-51 8-19 54.

CHEROKEE (57): Matt Hale 7-18 0-0 17; Ty Ryans 5-7 2-214; Logan Bailiff 4-10 2-2 11; Tyler Risner 4-6 1-2 9; Deshand Bradley 1-1 0-02; Jon Eric Buck 1-1 0-0 2; James Scales 1-3 0-0 2; Cody Moore 0-1 0-0 0.Totals 23-47 5-6 57.

3-point goals: Cocke County 6-24 (Heath Ford 2-4; JeramieHaney 2-5; Marcus Stewart 1-7; Casey Ragan 1-5; Krys Cates 0-2; Chase Atkins0-1). Cherokee 6-15 (Matt Hale 3-6; Ty Ryans 2-2; Logan Bailiff 1-5; TylerRisner 0-2). Fouled out: Cocke County-None. Cherokee-None. Rebounds: CockeCounty 27 (Marcus Stewart 9). Cherokee 34 (Matt Hale 9). Assists: Cocke County9 (Marcus Stewart 4). Cherokee 8 (Matt Hale 3). Total fouls: Cocke County 16. Cherokee15. Technical fouls: Cocke County-None. Cherokee-None.

 

JV

Cocke County's junior varsity suffered a tough night,with both teams falling. The Lady Red fell to 3-2 on the season with a 51-33loss. The Fighting Cocks meanwhile lost 39-36.

 

Up Next:

Cocke County has their final IMAC game of thecalendar year on Friday night, with a trip to Jefferson County on tilt. Varsityaction tips off beginning at 6:30 p.m.