The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats, the defending tournament champions, passed their first test in the 2019 event, opening the tourney with a 64-48 win over Cocke County.
A 17-6 scoring surge in the second quarter by the Lady Wildcats (10-2) gave them some breathing room over the scrappy Lady Reb as they held a 31-20 halftime edge and maintained that 11-point gap with a 44-33 edge going into the final period.
Khamari Mitchell-Steen led the scoring for Oak Ridge with 18 points while guard Bri Dunbar netted 17. Raja Eckles hit double digits with 12 points. Hope Holt had six assists.
The Lady Red (7-7) got a game-best 20 points from Camryn Halcomb.
OAK RIDGE (64): K.Mitchell-Steen 7-14 3-3 18, Clark 2-7 0-0 4, Bri Dunbar 6-10 0-0 17, Raja Eckles 5-7 2-2 12, Holt 3-6 1-1 7, Hart 0-0 0-0 0, Green 0-0 0-0 0, Hearon 1-2 0-0 2, Pettus 2-3 0-0 4. TOTALS: 26-49 6-6 64.
COCKE COUNTY (48): Clevenger 3-8 0-2 7, Gregg 0-4 1-2 1, Cofield 1-2 1-2 3, Camryn Halcomb 7-12 5-5 20, Baxter 2-4 3-5 7, Burgess 0-0 0-0 0, Ramsey 0-0 0-0 0, Neithammer 3-5 0-0 6, Moore 2-2 0-0 4. TOTALS: 18-37 10-16 48.
3-Point Goals: OR—6 (Dunbar 5, M-Steen). CC—2 (Clevenger, Halcomb).
Score by quarters:
Oak Ridge 14 17 13 20—64
Cocke County 14 6 13 15—48
