Lady Commanders post victory over MTCS

By Andy Reed

Sports Editor

Friendship Christian's girls may be the few. But as long as Deja Jones and Kaitlyn Teeter can stay in the game, there may not be many Class A post players who can match them.

They combined for 29 points and 19 rebounds to lead the Lady Commanders past visiting Middle Tennessee Christian 48-40 in a battle of nine-girl rosters Thursday night at the Bay Family Sportsplex.

Jones scored 17 points and secured six rebounds while Teeter totaled 12 points, half coming on a pair of three-pointers, 13 rebounds and six blocked shots as the Lady Commanders climbed to 5-2 for the season. Her second triple snapped a 12-12- tie early in the second quarter and Friendship never trailed again.

Middle Tennessee Christian tried to stay in the game with its guards. The Lady Cougars knocked down seven three-pointers - by six different girls - and tried to get back in the game with the press.

But a 12-0 Friendship run late in the third quarter opened a 36-23 lead, putting the game out of reach as the Lady Cougars returned to Murfreesboro 7-4.

"We did a better job at times handling the press," Lady Commander coach Deanna Teeter said. "Deja and Kaitlyn do pretty well, or did tonight anyway, inside defensively. In the beginning, our guards wanted to help down, and they don't have to. And once we did that, we had more success."

Point guard Kristian Watkins totaled 10 points and three assists for Friendship while Courtney Petty finished with four points and three steals. Aubrey Hawks and Brianna Stovall each tossed in two points and Taylor Patterson a free throw.

Juliana Peters popped in a pair of threes in leading the Lady Cougars with 11 points.

Friendship will travel to Battle Ground Academy in Franklin tonight for a girls-only game. Tipoff will be at 6 p.m. in Franklin.

Heaston leads Commander comeback

Allen Heaston broke out of a slump with 27 points Thursday night as Friendship Christian's boys overcame foul trouble and a double-digit deficit to overtake visiting Middle Tennessee Christian 66-62 at the Bay Family Sportsplex.

MTCS, coached by Friendship-graduate [and former coach] Jason Piercey, led 16-14 at the end of a back-and-forth first quarter. The Cougars opened a 34-23 halftime lead as Andrew Wood, Colton Gaines and A.J. Long wound up on the Commander bench in foul trouble.

Friendship fought back to within 49-45 going into the fourth quarter as Heaston had 14 before the Commanders completed the comeback to go to 3-4 for the season.

"[Heaston] put too much pressure on himself to carry the team," Friendship assistant coach Jason Miller said of one of the few holdovers from last  year's state championship team. "During that time, some of the other guys stepped up. Tonight, he just played, played hard."

Point guard Zac Anderson added 15 points for Friendship while Anthony Williams sank three 3-pointers for nine, Long eight, Wood five and Gaines two.

David Capps connected on three triples in leading Middle Tennessee Christian with 27 points while fellow guard Derrick Spears totaled 20 as MTCS fell to 8-2. Ben Brown, the Cougars' top three-point shooter to riddled Friendship with 20 points last month while several Commanders were still playing football, was held to a first-quarter triple last night.

Friendship will host the Mid-State Christmas Classic next week. The Commanders will open Thursday against Evangel Christian [Va.] at 6:45 p.m.

Wildcats wins two

WOODBURY — Ernie Banks does not play for or coach Wilson Central's boys' basketball team. Mr. Cub has probably never heard of the Wildcats.

But the Baseball Hall of Famer who famously said, "Let's play two" could appreciate the Wildcats' double wins Thursday in the Sun Drop Tournament at Cannon County. Central followed a 52-34 afternoon win over the host Lions with an 86-39 primetime blowout of Hixson.

"It was pretty tough," Central coach Troy Bond said after his Wildcats climbed to 8-3 for the season. "I've never done that since I've been playing or coaching in a real game. We've done it in camps. We only had an hour and a half between games."

A scrappy Cannon County team hung around until about midway through the fourth quarter as Central, saddled with foul trouble, led 19-8 following the first period, 26-17 at halftime and 33-26 through three.

Big man Ben Palmer posted 15 points while guard Jacob Williams tossed in 12 and Matthew Hall had 11. Blake Huffman added eight and A.J. Franklin and Jon Rosshirt a three-pointer apiece.

Jarrett Melton's 11 points paced Cannon County.

Against Hixson, the Wildcats widened a 22-17 first-quarter lead to 53-22 by halftime. Central owned the two middle periods 52-12, including a 45-5 run.

"We turned up the defensive pressure and all of a sudden started hitting shots," Bond said after 13 Wildcats scored.

Williams swished four three-pointers in leading Central with 22 points while Hall and Huffman each had 10. Palmer notched nine points, Rosshirt seven, Franklin six, Deante Miller five, Cortez Owens and Preston Reed four each, Casey Brandon three [with eight steals off the bench] and Fred Alpert, Jamie Hinchman and Thomas Sieber two each.

Wilson Central will travel to McMinnville tonight for the semifinals at Warren County, the tournament host. The Wildcats will play at 6 p.m. against the Cookeville-Franklin County winner.

Watertown girls open Florida tournament with a win

ORLANDO, Fla. — Watertown's girls dug themselves an early hole before climbing out and ousting James Rivers [Va.] 53-41 in the KSA Events Tournament at the Disney ESPN Sports Complex.

James Rivers led 14-4 out of the gate. But Watertown cut five points off the margin by the first-quarter break and went into halftime ahead 29-20 and the fourth quarter up 45-26 as the Tigerettes improved to 6-4.

Freshman post Bobbi Staats tossed in 12 points and classmate Jasmine High 10 from the point for Watertown. Katie Dalton and Alicia Jennings each added eight, Kirstin Vantrease seven, Jenna Haun six and Bay Cole two.

Casey Ritt racked up 12 points for James Rivers, based in Rapids, Va.

This was Watertown's second straight win. The Tigerettes started 4-0 before enduring a four-game losing streak which ended last Saturday night at home against East Robertson.

"We're just learning how to compete every possession," said Watertown coach Lane Price, noting his roster of one senior, one junior, four sophomores and the remainder freshmen. "Free throws beat us in three of the losses.

"We'll play three or four possessions great, and the next five possessions as if we'd never played."

Watertown will play again at 9 a.m. CST this morning in the semifinals against Ranney School [N.J.].

McClain boys overcome fouls, injuries, for sixth straight win

COLUMBIA — McClain Christian's boys rolled to their sixth straight win Tuesday night 56-53 over TSSAA-member Zion Christian.

Brandon Fox finished with 25 points and nine rebounds in just 21 minutes. Troy Huddleston had 12 rebounds and Weston Rountree 10, mostly in the second half.

"We did a good job ... of overcoming a few things to get the win," McClain coach Tony McLeod said. "We lost Jon Whitener and Cameron Harris to injuries, and had foul trouble across the board but still pulled through."

The Bulldogs will enter the Christmas break 6-5 and return to action Jan. 3 against Faith Trinity, from Spencer, at the newly-remodeled Immanuel Baptist Church gym.