Game 2 – Cocke County 45, Upperman 41

Upperman, always one of the favorites when the Ladies Classic unfolds, was relegated to the loser’s bracket in their initial tournament game as Cocke County’s Lady Red pulled off a 45-41 win in a thriller.

The Lady Bees, who lost for only the second time this year after 11 victories, fell behind early as the Lady Red entered the game with a tremendous amount of energy and that spirit never wavered when the Bees made an expected run in the third quarter.

Cocke County was up 26-19 at halftime and Upperman got the rally and closed to within 30-29, but the Red withstood that spurt and emerged from the third still up 35-29. That lead grew to 38-29 when Shakyra Reed scored in traffic, was fouled and made the foul shot. That would be the final field goal Cocke County would make, settling for going to the foul line eight times down the stretch and making seven of them.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Taylor Dolente, the second coming with 2:14 left, had the Bees to withing 41-38, and another trey from Sadie South at the 1:00 mark closed it to 43-41. But Hallie Kitchen converted both her foul shots for CC with 39 seconds to go, and Upperman made a turnover in front court. Blakely Clevenger missed two foul shots with 15 seconds left, but the Lady Red grabbed the missed free throw and was able to run out the clock.

Freshman Karmine Carmichael scored 11 points and yanked off seven rebounds for Cocke County. Kitchen had 10 points and four assists, while Reed scored 10 and had seven rebounds as the Lady Red improve to 10-5.

Dolente poured in 18 points for Upperman. Bella Mullins had six points, seven assists and four steals.

UPPERMAN (41): Bass 0-1 0-0 0, Mullins 3-4 0-0 6, Stiles 0-2 0-0 0, Hamilton 3-6 0-0 6, Taylor Dolente 6-12 2-2 18, Butler 0-6 2-2 2, South 0-0 0-0 0, Allen 0-1 0-0 0, Harrell 1-2 1-2 3. TOTALS: 15-42 5-6 41.

COCKE CO. (45):  McNealy 0-1 2-2 2, Clevenger 1-2 2-4 5, Carter 0-0 0-0 0, Niethammer 3-6 1-1 7, Hallie Kitchen 3-6 2-2 10, Shakyra Reed 3-9 4-8 10, Karmine Carmichael 4-10 3-4 11, Reese 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 14-34 14-21 45.

3-Point Goals: UHS—6 (Dolente 4 South 2). CC—3 (Kitchen 2, Clevenger).