The Gilmer High Lady Cats have already matched their win total from a season ago.
The Lady Cats attended North Murray’s Mistletoe Madness basketball tournament last week and posted a 2-1 record.
Gilmer met the host Mountaineers Monday and led from start to finish. While NMHS cut into Gilmer’s lead in the third, the Mountaineers’ offense faltered in the fourth for a 55-43 GHS win.
GHS returned to the court two days later to take on McMinn County, Tenn. The Cats trailed early but rallied late to force overtime. The Cherokees did enough in the extra frame to escape with a 77-76 victory.
The Cats closed out the tournament Thursday against Coahulla Creek. The Cats shook off a shaky third quarter and pulled away to win, 57-51.
The matchup versus North Murray came after the teams played each other just two days prior. Lucy Ray scored 20 points for the Lady Cats in the rematch, and her versatility allowed GHS to exploit the Mountaineers. NMHS was determined to stop Aliza Chastain, who scored 26 points in their first meeting.
“After the first game, they glued onto Aliza a little more,” said head coach Dani Wright. “She didn’t get as many shots as normally, but Lucy played great and picked up the slack. We’ve been telling our kids’ ‘It can’t just be one scorer.’
“We’ll be really good when we’re as good with our next best scorer. That proved that point, and Lucy really couldn’t miss. She was on fire. She can play inside and outside so she’s able to bring their bigs out and make them uncomfortable playing a guard position.”
Gilmer hit eight three pointers and Ray made four. She scored 14 in the first half as GHS led, 37-26. NMHS shot 5/7 from the line in the third to help trim Gilmer’s lead down to 48-40.
North Murray was only able to muster three points in the fourth. Lady Cats Bree Burnette, Chelsey Griggs and Ray helped extend Gilmer’s lead to 12 for its second consecutive win over the Mountaineers.
GHS came out flat versus McMinn, and its turnovers were answered with Cherokee three pointers. Gilmer fell behind 11-2 in the first quarter. MCHS guard Aubrey Gonzalez torched GHS for 39 points on the day, and she made four of her seven three pointers in the first quarter.
Gilmer found success from outside as well where Chastain, Burnette and Ray all hit threes in the opening eight minutes.
McMinn led 24-16 entering the second quarter. Lady Cats Griggs, Madison Bradshaw and Jaylee McDaniel added to the Cats’ scoring nucleus. GHS went on an 11-2 run over a 2 1/2 minute span in the middle of the second to even the score at 28-28.
McMinn pushed its lead to 37-32 at the half, and Gilmer’s balanced offense allowed McMinn to pick its poison in the third. GHS hit four more threes, and the Cherokees made just two shots from the field.
Gilmer took a 53-46 lead into the final quarter where McMinn got back on track. The Cherokees made four more threes in the fourth, which began with a 16-3 run.
Down 61-57, Ray hit a three pointer before consecutive baskets by Chastain. Gonzalez made a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left to tie the score at 64-all. GHS set up a play but was unable to get off a shot on its final possession of regulation.
McMinn made 12 threes in the game and two more dropped in overtime. The Cherokees also converted 5/6 from the line.
A Ray three pointer tied the score at 70-70 with under a minute to play before six straight points from Gonzalez. Another Ray three cut their lead to three points with 6.8 seconds on the clock.
GHS was forced to foul, and MCHS made one free throw. Carley Becerra sank a three pointer from half court as time expired.
“That was a good growing-up moment for those girls to learn and understand McMinn won that game because of free throws (17/24). If we hit our free throws (13/24), we win the game,” Wright said. “We’ve been doing really good from the three-point line. We’ve been trying to find our identity, and I keep telling the girls, ‘We’re a three-point shooting team.’”
Chastain scored 25 and Ray added 17.
The Cats faced a different defensive look versus Coahulla Creek and opted to go the same route.
“I thought we did a better job of limiting offensive rebounds in this game,” Wright said. “We got to work on going against a zone, which helped us. We even went into a zone, too. We’ve played three games a week for the past three weeks, and the girls were exhausted. I was so proud of them because they fought really hard.”
GHS made seven of its 10 three pointers in the first half but trailed, 29-27. The Cats committed five turnovers on their first six possessions of the third quarter. Wright made wholesale changes to reinvigorate her starters and the tactic paid off.
“The starters went back in and began pressing and doing the little things,” said Wright.
GHS made 11/14 free-throw attempts over the final two quarters. The Cats led 47-46 with eight minutes remaining and extended the margin to six points by game’s end.
“We were up at the end, and they did a really good job with clock management. This is one of the better teams I’ve coached when it comes to being able to handle clock management really well,” said Wright.
Chastain was in double figures once again with 21 points, and Burnette finished with 12.
The Cats have a 6-7 record and will be going for their third win Friday versus North Murray when they host the Mountaineers at 3 p.m.