Jefferson County Basketball Home Opening Successful for Both Varsity Teams

Basketball has returned to Dumplin Valley as both the Lady Patriots and Patriots welcomed fans back home with wins.

Staff Photo – Angie Stanley

After suffering a loss at the hand of the Bearden Lady Bulldogs, the Lady Patriots hosted the Science Hill Lady Hilltoppers to kick off the action for the evening.  It wouldn’t take long for Jefferson County to take the lead and run with it.  Pulling ahead quickly in the first quarter with a series of buckets by Makayla Alvey, Alexa Gramann, and from beyond the arch by Lala Smith and Kadin Johnson.  In the first eight minutes of the game, the Lady Patriots had 20 on the board, only allowing the Lady Hilltoppers to get five.

In the second quarter, Science Hill beefed up their defenses.  In an attempt to close the gap in the score, the Lady Hilltoppers showed more aggression than in the first, sending the Lady Patriots to the foul line several times in the period.  Science Hill was unable to close in on Jefferson County, though, only outscoring the Lady Patriots by 1, the score going in to the halftime break was 33-19.

After Halftime, the Lady Patriots came back out ready to play some basketball.  Gramann and Alvey both added to their tallies for the night.  Outscoring the Lady Hilltoppers 20-10, Jefferson County expanded their lead.  The third quarter ended with the Lady Patriots ahead 53-29.

The final eight minutes of play, the Lady Patriots started to loose their steam, and the Lady Hilltoppers made a final effort to close in the scoring gap.  For the fourth quarter, Science Hill outscored Jefferson County 17-7, but it was not enough to overtake the Lady Patriots.  The Jefferson County Lady Patriots grabbed the win at home by 15, 60-45.

Makayla Alvey played the role of top scorer for the evening, with 20 points added to her number for the evening.

Up next for the Lady Patriots they will play host to Northview Academy at JCHS. Tip-off is set for 6.

Staff Photo – Angie Stanley

The Jefferson County Patriots played shortly after, hosting the Greeneville High School Greene Devils.

The first quarter started off with both teams coming out the gate running.  The Patriots, though, were hitting more of the shots they took, and outscored the Greene Devils 20-16 in the first quarter.  The Patriots’ Darius Allen started off with a strong first quarter, shooting for 9 of those 20 points.

In the second quarter, Greeneville started loosing steam, quickly, only adding seven to their score.  Five of the seven points the Greene Devils scored in the second quarter came from the foul line.  The period, though only adding 13 to their tally, was a defensive press for the Patriots.  The half ended with the Patriots ahead of the Greene Devils by 10, 33-23.

Staff Photo – Angie Stanley

To start off the second half, both team beefed up their defenses, and they held each other to only 12 each.  The Patriots were able to maintain their 10 point lead for the third quarter.  With the pressure on Patriots’ Allen, Cusick, Chaney, Holland and Parker all found their way onto the scoreboard for the night.

The final eight minutes of the game started a hard press by the Patriots, who added 20 to their score.  From beyond the arch, Michael Eldridge stepped up with two three pointers, and Allen grabbed one.  Despite playing with more pressure, the Greene Devils were just not able to make up the deficit, and could only add 17 to the score they were already running behind on.  The final score for the night was 66-53 in the favor of the Patriots.

Patriots’ Darius Allen led in the scoring for the evening, with 24 points for the night.

Up Next for the Patriots, they will be traveling to Hardin Valley to face off against the Hawks.  The last time the two teams met, the Hawks squeaked by with a win against the Patriots, 54-53.