Chelsea Cluesman Guides Lee To Important Clinch Mountain District Win

BRISTOL, Va. – Virginia High girls basketball coach Barry Reed has seen enough of the Cluesman sisters.

On Jan. 9, freshman Makenzie Cluesman led Lee to a 40-37 victory over the VHS Bearcats.

Tuesday night, 5-foot-8 senior Chelsea Cluesman starred for Lee as the Generals stopped VHS by the same 40-37 score.

Lee (12-4, 5-0) has a two-game lead in the Clinch Mountain District standings.

Makenzie Cluesman collected 11 points and eight rebounds in the earlier win over VHS. Chelsea answered with 12 points Tuesday.

“They Cluesmans complement each other real well,” Reed said. “Luckily, one sister is a senior, but we have to face the other one three more years.”

The sisters rely on aggressive play, both on offense and defense. After Lee fell behind 10-2 on Tuesday, Chelsea Cluesman simply took over in the third quarter with a series of bold drives, jumpers and alert passes. 

“I was just trying to take the ball to the basket and make something happen,” she said. “I got lucky and hit a couple of threes, then I was able to find some openings in the defense.”

With leading scorer Savanah Pippin handicapped by foul trouble, the Bearcats were unable to answer after falling behind 32-25 late in the third quarter.

“Once [Pippin] got that third foul in the second quarter, that kind of did it for her the rest of the night,” Reed said. “ Again, it comes back to youth for us.
“Lee plays the type of defense we’ve played in years past. Defense is the name of the game.”

The Bearcats (10-6, 3-2) started just one senior Tuesday and were led in scoring by freshman guard Chelsea DeLapp with 11 points.

“I tried to prepare myself for these growing pains,” Reed said. “Sometimes I go home glad that we’re competing as well as we do, but it’s still hard to take.”

Meanwhile, Cluesman and company went home celebrating a landmark win.

“This is the first time we’ve beaten Virginia High since I’ve been in high school, so we’re feeling really good,” said Chelsea Cluesman, whose older sister Jamie played at Concord after starring for Lee.

Chelsea said the Generals remained focused after falling behind Tuesday.

“We’ve had some games where we’ve had slow starts,” Cluesman said. “We just had to pick up our defense and be more aggressive.”

VHS will play host to CMD rival Lebanon Friday at 4 p.m. as part of a triple-header. The boys game will be held at 6, with national power Oak Hill Academy facing Greensboro, N.C.-based Veritas Sports Academy at 8.

LEE (40) – Mitchell 2, M. Cluesman 11, C. Cluesman 12, Brock 4, Miles 2, McPherson 9. Totals 16 4-7 40. 
VIRGINIA HIGH (37) – DeLapp 11, Collins 3, Pippin 8, H. Smith 4, K. Smith 5, Evans 6. Totals 16 2-3 37.
Lee 6 11 15 8-40
Virginia High 10 11 8 8-37
3-point goals – Lee 4 (M. Cluesman, C. Cluesman 2, McPherson), VHS 3 (DeLapp, Collins, Evans). Total fouls-Lee 11, VHS 16.

BOYS

Va. High 71, Lee 45

The Virginia High boys ended the suspense early, opening leads of 24-10 and 47-23 behind uncanny perimeter shooting and a cohesive transition game.

“We’ve been working hard and bringing the intensity in practice, and everybody stopped up big tonight,” VHS senior Josh Moore said.

Crashing the boards with abandon, the 6-5 Moore contributed 16 points and 13 rebounds.
Fellow seniors Corey Young and Josh Tignor supplied 19 points. Young scored all his points in the first half, including a long buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the second quarter.

VHS coach Jason Stevens recently left both Young and Tignor out of the starting lineup to send a message to his veterans.

“Sometimes we can play good together like this, but we’ve got to do it for 32 minutes in every game,” Stevens said.

When you factor in the sticky defense of VHS, the Bearcats delivered an almost flawless performance.

“I’m proud of the guys,” Stevens said. “They worked hard this week and it showed. We were hot in the first half – real hot.”

The Bearcats (3-2, 12-5) play four of their final five games at home.

“We’ve still got a long ways to go, but the kids are fighting hard,” Stevens said. “We’re hoping these home games help us.”

Moore said the Bearcats learned an important lesson during their demanding practice sessions.

“Every team is going to bring it, and we have to bring it back,” Moore said.

Lee (7-8, 1-4) was led by Tyler Maggard with 13 points.

LEE (45) – Maggard 13, Woliver 6, Bledsoe 2, Byington 6, Hatfield 5, Hill 6, Lanningham 3, Ward 4. Totals 15 11-15 45.
VIRGINIA HIGH (71) – Young 19, Arnett 2, Tignor 19, Mink 2, Gibson 6, Eccleston 1, Griffin 1, Moore 16, Nave 4, Kristofek 1. Totals 24 17-24 71.
Lee 15 8 5 17–45
Virginia High 24 23 9 15–71
3-point goals – Lee 4 (Maggard, Woliver, Hatfield, Lanningham), VHS 6 (Young 3, Tignor 3). Total fouls-Lee 17, VHS 14. Fouled out-Byington.

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