The Big Wildcat Basketball Update

Wow!, December really flew by! So fast, I’ve haven’t done an update in over a month!

There’s been alot of basketball since then, so here’s a run down of whats been going on.

Here is a follow-up to the Franklin County Times articles, Both the JV-B Boys, and JV-A girls were eliminated at the hands of Red Bay in the semi finals on Saturday January 10th, 2009.

Varsity Play

Both the Varsity Girls, and Boys have been on a roll lately. The Varsity Boys have won Three straight in Area play defeating Vina, Mt. Hope, and Speake. The Varsity Girls have crushed everyone they’ve played since losing to Red Bay on December 1st. That includes winning 1st place in the Covenant Christian Christmas Tournament.

Tharptown girls pull away late to win

Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 3:49 PM CST

Scot Beard

scot.beard@franklincountytimes.com

RED BAY – The fifth-seeded Tharptown ninth grade girls team fought hard Monday night during the opening round of the Franklin County Junior High Basketball Tournament and was rewarded with a 39-26 victory against fourth-seeded East Franklin.

With two of its key defensive players – Dovie Ergle and Kamri Sears – in foul trouble, Tharptown was able to hold East Franklin to three points in the final quarter to secure the win.

“They block a lot of shots and get a lot of rebounds,” said Tharptown coach Chad Green. “We knew we would have to pressure the ball more get some turnovers out front.”

The Lady Wildcats opened the game on a 6-0 run but East Franklin rallied to cut the Tharptown lead to 7-6 at the end of the first period.

Autumn Thomas gave the Lady Rebels their first lead of the game when she sank a shot early in the second quarter.

Tharptown’s Chloe Lane hit a pair of free throws to regain the lead, but East Franklin’s Ciara Harville and Thomas hit back-to-back shots to give the Lady Rebels a 12-9 lead.

The Lady Wildcats scored the next four points on a basket by Ergle and a pair of free throws from Braeden Sellers to regain the lead. Shortly before halftime East Franklin’s Kassy Baker hit a free throw to tie the game heading into the break.

Harville hit a free throw early in the third quarter to give East Franklin a brief lead, but the Lady Wildcats went on a 6-2 run.

Harville later sank a 3-pointer to tie the score 19-19 and that was as close as the Lady Rebels would get to taking the lead.

Elly Valdez scored and Sellers nailed a 3-pointer to put Tharptown ahead by five points before Brittney Cheatham scored for the Lady Rebels.

Sears scored for Tharptown and Harville answered for East Franklin as the teams ended the third quarter with the Lady Wildcats clinging to a 26-23 advantage.

Tharptown continued to roll in the final quarter, opening with a 6-0 run to build a commanding lead before Thomas scored.

Tharptown went on another run, scoring five unanswered points before Chastalyn Chaney hit a free throw for East Franklin’s final point of the game.

The Lady Rebels had three players foul out of the game during the final quarter.

Harville scored a game-high 12 points for the Lady Rebels while Thomas scored 10. They were two of the players that fouled out.

Also scoring for East Franklin were Cheatham (2), Baker (1), and Chaney (1).

Sellers was the leading scorer for Tharptown with 10 points while Valdez added nine points and Sears and Lane scored eight points each. Also scoring for the Lady Wildcats were Ergle (2) and Haley Hatton (2).

With the win Tharptown advances to play Red Bay at 1 p.m. Saturday at Red Bay High School. Red Bay is the top seed in the tournament and has a 17-0 record.

“This one builds some confidence – this is the first time we’ve beat (East Franklin) this year,” Green said. “We came (to Red Bay) and they beat us pretty good. At home we played a pretty good game.”

Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times

Benford’s 17 points leads East Franklin past Tharptown

Published: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 3:49 PM CST

Scot Beard

scot.beard@franklincountytimes.com

RED BAY – The East Franklin ninth grade boys team opened the 2009 Franklin County Junior High Basketball Tournament in impressive fashion Monday by cruising to a 46-27 victory against Tharptown.

Both teams struggled in the early minutes of the game before the flood gates opened, allowing the Rebels to jump out to an impressive lead early.

“I was (surprised). The way we started neither team scored, then things started falling for us,” said East Franklin coach Ryan Swinney. “This was probably as good as we’ve played.”

Kelby Hallmark opened the scoring, giving Tharptown an early 2-0 lead. East Franklin’s Brady Whitten hit a free throw to cut the deficit in half before Skeeter Benford gave the Rebels the lead for good.

Benford was the leading scorer in the game, recording 17 points for East Franklin.

Tharptown’s Kent Allen hit a free throw for the Wildcat’s final point of the first quarter, but the Rebels closed out the quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 12-3 advantage.

Hallmark opened the second quarter scoring, but East Franklin responded by scoring seven unanswered points and built a 25-9 lead by halftime.

The Rebels continued to play strong defense after the break, holding the Wildcats to nine points in the third quarter. Tharptown added another nine points in the final quarter, but it was too little as the Rebels held on for the win.

Allen led the Wildcats with 13 points, most of which came from behind the 3-point line as he sank three shots from beyond the arc.

Hallmark also reached double-digit scoring with 10 points while Cody Cagle added two points and Bradley McCafferty scored one point for Tharptown.

Rick Miller was second on the scoring list for East Franklin with nine points and Brent Miller was third with eight points.

Also scoring for the Rebels were Brady Whitten (5), Cory Potter (4), Christian Garcia (2) and Evan Reeves (2).

With the win East Franklin advances to the semifinals where it will face Belgreen at 4:45 p.m. Saturday at Red Bay High School.

“We played Belgreen the first game of the season and haven’t played them since,” said Swinney. “I think we can play better than we did the first time.”

Copyright © 2009 – Franklin County Times

Tharptown JV Sweeps Vina in Basketball Season Opener!

The THS JV Girls A & B teams as well as the JV Boys B team swept Vina in games at Tharptown on Thursday October 24th. The B girls played well against their opponents with a final score of 24-17.

The JV B Boys handled their part of the games by topping Vina 37-31, with Kelby Hallmark and Jacob Flannagin having the high scores for Tharptown.

The JV A girls killed the Vina squad 40-7 to seal the deal for Tharptown.

The Wildcats travel to Belgreen on Monday Night, October 27th to play the Bulldogs.

Games begin at 4:00 with JV B girls followed by the JV B Boys, JV A Girls and the JV A Boys.

Come out and support the Wildcats!

Click here to see more photos.

Click here to see photos in a slideshow format.