Warren County hoops drops two at Overton
The Pioneer and Lady Pioneer basketball teams began their run through the Overton Christmas Tournament with a pair of losses Monday morning.
In the opening game of the tourney, the Lady Pioneers got a heavy dose of Shakeya Johns, as they fell to Antioch 45-40. Following that game, Warren County’s boys also came out on the losing end of their first-round contest, dropping a 68-56 decision to White House.
Multiple turnovers by the Lady Pioneers were a deciding factor in their loss. Warren County gave the ball away a season-high 31 times, falling victim to the Lady Bears’ tenacious pressure defense. Although the Lady Pioneers connected on seven 3-pointers in the game, and got 11 points from Leah Cunningham, the giveaways and the absence of leading scorer Whitney Pelham (see sidebar) were too much to overcome.
Down by 13 early in the second, WCHS tried to battle its way back, and actually took a brief lead at 28-27 in the third period. But Johns continued to dominate, and finished with 29 points — a career high for the junior guard — to help seal the win for the Lady Bears.
In addition to Cunningham’s 11, WCHS got nine points from McKenna Rhea and eight from Nikki Griffith. Vanessa Cornelius had five, while Amanda Locke had three points and the duo of Lauren Patterson and Heather Frazier had two each.
The Lady Pioneers fell to 4-6, and were scheduled to take on Father Ryan in a losers’ bracket game Tuesday.
The Pioneers trailed by over 20 points during Monday’s game, but tried to mount a late comeback by going to their reserves, who cut into — but could never overcome — the White House lead.
Ten different players got into the Warren County side of the scorebook, led by Swann and Wood. Ben Dunn had seven points, while Terrin Martin scored six. Todd Gilley had five, Jonathan Morris scored four, and Brandon Adcock, Brooks Majors and Ethan Womack had three apiece. Heath Crisp rounded out the Pioneers’ efforts with two points.
With the loss, their eighth straight, WCHS fell to 3-9 overall. They were slated to face Hume-Fogg in a losers’ bracket matchup on Tuesday.