WARREN COUNTY LADY PIONEERS AND PIONEERS LOSE AT SPARTA MONDAY NIGHT — BRIEF RECAP OF TUESDAY NIGHT’S WINS AT SHELBYVILLE BELOW
The Lady Pioneers lost to rival White County 58–45. In the boys’ game, the Pioneers lost to the Warriors 64–43. Both losses were eerily similar to the losses to Coffee County last week. The Lady Pioneers were only down a point at halftime, 25–24, but were blown out in the second half by low-post play by the Warriorettes. The boys were beaten in the paint by an very tall and aggressive Sparta team with a very good outside shooter, Blake Davis. Warren County girls and boys were outplayed by a rival team to the east by White County after recently being outplayed by a rival team to the west, Coffee County.
LADY PIONEERS RECAP
The Warriorettes ran a similar game plan in the second half that Coffee County utilized last week against the Lady Pioneers. The emphasis for White County in the second half was to work the ball down low in the post for high percentage shots. White County head coach, Michael Dodgen explained how and why his team’s focus changed in the second half.
Coach Dodgen said, “I thought in the first half, it was kind of like watching paint dry. A really boring basketball game. When we last met before Christmas, both teams were making shots, and tonight we were both struggling to get to 25 points in the first half. You know, Anthony (Lady Pioneer head coach Lippe) has really done a great job. They get after it and play hard.”
Dodgen continued, “We were able to get inside in the third and fourth quarter against their zone. We finally made some post moves and scored. It is a little different for us because we have been a perimeter team the past few years, but we have a couple of good post players this year. They (Warren County) stayed in the 2–3 zone as long as they could. We knew if we got them one-on-one, we had an advantage. We know that we have to do that — get inside, but sometimes you need a little reminder.” The Warriorettes got that reminder at halftime.
White County has two girls over 6-feet, as opposed to Coffee County who has three girls over 6-feet. The low post matchup with a taller team is something that the Lady Pioneers knew would be an issue before the season started. Warren County is a guard-heavy team that has to be shooting well from the outside to win games. White County’s defense made it extremely difficult for the Lady Pioneers to make outside shots in the second half.
Shelby Smartt was very active in the fourth quarter Monday night in Sparta, scoring 10 of her 18 points in the final quarter. Kyra Perkins was Warren County’s second leading scorer with 8 points. Both Brienne Kelsey and Sable Winfree made two 3-point shots each to score 6-points individually in the game.
FYI — White County is rated 5th in this week’s AP 3A Prep Poll. Warren County is in the TSSAA 4A classification.
SCORE BY QUARTER
WARREN COUNTY 18 24 33 45
WHITE COUNTY 15 25 40 58
SCORING SUMMARY
WARREN COUNTY: Shelby Smartt 18, Kyra Perkins 8, Brienne Kelsey 6, Sable Winfree 6, Mia Hobbs 5, Savannah Winfree 2
WHITE COUNTY: Nia Powers 22, Celeste Reed 15, Alaina Stiles 11, Karley Gentry 6, Lexi Golden 3, KB Frazier 1
BOYS RECAP
A prevalent theme for Warren County is a struggle to score and control the boards, and both were a problem Monday night in Sparta. The Pioneers were down by 21 at halftime, and Warren County could not close the gap in the final quarters. It is a tough week for both Warren County teams as they play four games in five days. Coach Chris Sullens rested some players for games this week by limiting their playing time Monday night.
The focus for all high school basketball teams at this time of year is preparing for the upcoming district tournaments in two weeks. Sparta is a non-district team this year, so the loss does not have the same significance as it has had in recent years. Yet, there is no doubt Coach Sullens wants to win these games and work toward a winning season.
Turnovers were a problem for the Pioneers in this game. Simply passing the ball inbounds was a challenge at times Monday night, resulting in one or two turnovers. White County made many steals, and gave Warren County fits passing the ball throughout the game.
White County’s Jake Davis, head coach Eric Mitchell’s nephew, was red-hot in the game, making five 3-point shots. Davis led all scorers with 22 points. White County is the tallest team the Pioneers have faced this season with five players over 6 feet 3 inches tall. FYI — Davis is a 6-foot-1-inch guard.
HEAD COACH COMMENTS
Pioneer head coach Chris Sullens was subdued after the game, and he was trying to keep his team prepared for a long week of basketball. Sullens commented about the game, “Davis got in a rhythm tonight. That Richmond kid (6-foot 7-inches) can play around the rim. They are a team that puts an offensive skill set together that is hard for us to defend.”
Coach Sullens discussed freshman Aaron Templeton who had significant playing time against Sparta. Sullens said, “He is a player who has a skill set that helps. He’s a pretty smart basketball player. The moments are not too big for him. We noticed him in practice. The kids have a lot of confidence in him. We are going to get him some minutes and see if he can help us. That way he is not shocked when he comes back as a sophomore.”
White County head coach Eric Mitchell was pleased that his team broke a four-game losing streak. Coach Mitchell said, “It was one of our best games of the season. Our best game was probably at Macon County. We hit 16 3’s down there. We have changed our offense. We have been trying to go inside because of our size advantage. Our game plan coming into the game was to speed it up. We have not been scoring either. We have scored 41, 45 the last two games. It worked out for us tonight. Coach Sullens will have them ready for the tournament games. It was our night. We hit some shots.”
SCORE BY QUARTER
WARREN COUNTY 14 18 29 43
WHITE COUNTY 21 39 49 64
SCORING SUMMARY
WARREN COUNTY: Nate Elrod 9, Kaden Desmaris 8, Sawyer Seymour 8, Treyton Terry 5, Braylon Grayson 3, Eli Kuykendall 3, Aaron Templeton 2, Alex van Vuuren 2, J.J. Brown 2
White County: Jake Davis 22, Thomas Paul 18, Jeremiah Gardenhire 9, Tripp Pinion 7, Japheth Richmond 6, Javyn Strode 2
TUESDAY NIGHT GAME AT SHELBYVILLE
The Lady Pioneers won 48–32, which gave the Lady Pioneers their 20th win of the season. Leading scorers for Warren County were Shelby Smart with 12 points, Sable Winfree with 8 points, and Kyra Perkins with 7 points.
The Pioneers beat Shelbyville 64–53 in a big district win for the boys. Leading Warren County in scoring were Sawyer Seymour with 18 points, Eli Kuykendall with 13 points, and Nate Elrod with 8 points.
NEXT GAMES THIS WEEK
Thursday night both Warren County teams travel to Smithville for a non-district game, and the Lady Pioneers and Pioneers return home after three road games to face district rival Coffee County Friday night.
SEASON RECORDS
Lady Pioneers (20–5)
Pioneers (9–13)
