KINGSPORT, Tenn. – Maroon and white covered the court. The colors flashed, darted and jumped out. And as the Tennessee High Vikings picked up another steal, loose ball or stray rebound, they wore down and put away the Daniel Boone Trailblazers.
It was a scrappy, full-blown team effort by the No. 1 seed Vikings, who downed the ninth-seeded Trailblazers, 58-27, Monday evening in the quarterfinals of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association 1-AAA district tournament at the Buck Van Huss Dome.
The Vikings move on to face No. 4 Science Hill at 6 p.m. Friday in the semifinals.
Tennessee High (24-2) played fast, smart and strong. The Vikings mixed an aggressive, turnover-inducing defense with an efficient offense. And they took their first step toward their goal of making a deep run in the postseason.
“It’s going to take a team effort if we’re going to advance,” Tennessee High coach Barry Wade said.
Danielle Montgomery scored a game-high 14 points to lead the Vikings, while Sarah Baker added 11 and Kimberly Wood scored 10.
Courtney Baskett’s team-high 11 points and three 3-pointers topped Boone (7-23).
Up 31-23 at halftime, Tennessee High played near-perfect ball in the third quarter. The Vikings put up 18 points, held Boone scoreless and kickstarted a 27-0 run that spanned two periods. The Trailblazers did not score their first point of the second half until 3 minutes, 5 seconds remained in the game.
“I felt like we needed to pick up our intensity and get our hands on some loose balls,” Wade said. “I felt like we did that in the second half. The first half, we sort of let them dictate what they wanted to do to us.”
Six first-quarter points by Wood via layups pushed Tennessee High out to a 16-10 lead.
An 8-0 run Vikings run followed. As Montgomery split the interior of Daniel Boone’s defense, Vikings guards Baker and Blakeley Burleson shot straight and true from the perimeter.
“We try to not rely on outside shooting a lot; we try to penetrate,” Baker said. “But tonight they were playing a sag man [-to-man defense], so we were kind of forced to shoot outside.”
A 3-pointer from the left wing by Baker made it 25-12 Tennessee High with 5:40 left in the first half.
Consecutive 3s by Boone’s Baxter pulled the Trailblazers within 25-20 with 2:50 left in the first half.
But an empty third quarter and the Vikings’ all-for-one team attack awaited Boone after halftime.
“The more people that we have to depend on, everybody gets their share of play,” Wood said. “It’s really good to have people to count on and know you have teammates that can do just as good.”
btsmith@bristolnews.com|(276) 645-2569
DANIEL BOONE (27) – Christa Baskett 2, Sheffey 4, Barnard 2, Courtney Baskett 11, Johnson 8. Totals 8 2-4 27.
TENNESSEE HIGH (58) – Burleson 7, Grinnel 3, Brown 5, Danielle Montgomery 14, Kimberly Wood 10, Matheson 2, Thonsberry 4, Sarah Baker 11, Huneycutt 2. Totals 22 7-18 58.
Daniel Boone 10 13 0 4–27
Tenn. High 16 15 18 9–58
3-point goals – DB 3 (Baskett 3); TH 7 (Burleson 2, Grinnel, Brown, Montgomery, Baker 2).
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement