WCMS girls, Eastside boys take third
The fifth- and sixth-grade basketball season came to an end Thursday night as the Warren County Sixth-grade Invitational closed out the season.
Two consolation games opened the final night of play, and saw Warren County Middle’s Lady Pioneers defeat the Lady Wildcats of Dibrell 28-10 for the girls’ third-place trophy. In the second game of the consolation bracket, Eastside’s boys just got past Dibrell 46-45.
In the girls’ game, Dibrell had trouble shooting the basketball. The Wildcats turned the ball over several times in the first period, which resulted in just one point for the Lady Wildcats. The Lady Pioneers started a little slow on offense, but midway through the quarter things started to go Warren County’s way and by the end of the period the Lady Pioneers held a 7-1 lead. In the second, Warren County stayed consistent and added seven more points to the scoreboard. Dibrell on the other hand still found itself struggling from the field as the Lady Wildcats hit for three points in the period and trailed at the half 14-4.
During the third period, the basket was hard to find for both teams. Things got a little sloppy for the Lady Pioneers and the result was just three points in the quarter. Dibrell had a better third period as the Lady Wildcat defense shut down the paint. The Lady Wildcats posted four points in the quarter but still trailed 17-8. In the final period Warren County ran the court at will, scoring 11 points in the period, while Dibrell managed only two points.
For the Lady Pioneers, Chancerie Martin led her team with eight points, Kassidy Kominos hit for seven, Kayla Maynard had five, Sha McKinley had three, Taylor Douglass and Molly Wilmore added two points each with Bethani McGuire hitting for one point. For Dibrell, Emily Tucker had seven points, Lauren Wilkinson had two and Mary Roller added one point.
• The boys game went right down to the final seconds. Eastside held a slight edge in the first period at 8-6, but in the second period Dibrell came bouncing back with 16 points to take a 22-21 lead at the break.
Down 31-25 with three minutes left in the third quarter, Eastside’s Caleb Underhill, Logan Seamons and Tyler Bell hit three straight baskets to tie the game at 31-31. Dibrell was down by one at 34-33 with five seconds left in the period when Dylan Blair gave his team back the lead at 35-34 as time expired in the third.
Dibrell took a 37-34 lead in the opening minutes of the final period, but Underhill hit a 3-pointer to put Eastside back on top. The Wildcats built a five point lead but the Bulldogs answered with two quick baskets. Down 45-44 Eastside worked the ball downcourt with four seconds left on the clock when Tyler Bell hit a jumper at the buzzer to give Eastside the victory.
For the bulldogs, Seamons led all scores with 18 points. Montgomery Basham had 12, Underhill pitched in 10 and Bell hit for six points. For Dibrell, Lou Christain led the Bulldogs with 14 points, Cody Bond hit for 10, Blair and James Mitchell had eight points each, Justin Yott added three and Tyler Adcock hit for two points.