Cocke County and Alcoa, two of East Tennessee’s finest, found themselves in a bracket battling for sixth place in the tourney, but the two foes played like it was for the championship. The Lady Red from Newport finally prevailed 65-60, thanks to an 11-3 run over the middle portion of the final period.
Down 52-48 early in the final period and with Karmine Carmichael relegated to the bench with four fouls, Cocke County turned to the Clevenger twins, Brooklyn and Blakelyn, to bring them through rough times.
Blakelyn scored 20 for the night, and seven of those came during that fourth quarter spurt, while Brooklyn finished with 17. Carmichael did not have her usual shooting touch but still finished with 14 11points. The team made 24-of-25 free throws.
Alcoa was led by a game-high 21 points from freshman sharp-shooter Harper Stinnett, who nailed six 3-poiinters. Gwen Carroll scored 13.
After the Lady Red regained the lead at 59-55 with 2:11 left, they converted 6-of-6 from the foul line the rest of the way to turn back the Tornadoes.
Cocke County (65): Brooklyn Clevenger 5-9 2-2 17, Wheeler 3-6 0-0 6, Blakelyn Clevenger 4-8 12-13 20, Proffitt 4-6 0-0 8, Karmine Carmichael 2-11 10-10 14, Kickliter 0-0 0-0 0, Lane 0-0 0-0 0, Niethammer 0-3 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-43 24-25 65.
Alcoa (60): Bailey 2-5 0-1 4, Bremer 2-5 1-1 7, Flatt 3-10 0-0 8, Gwen Carroll 6-11 0-0 13, Stewart 1-5 0-0 2, Garner 2-3 0-2 4, Harper Stinnett 6-10 4-4 21, Cox 0-2 1-2 1. TOTALS: 22-51 6-10 60.
3-Point Goals: CC—5 (Br.Clevenger). AHS—10 (Stinnett 5, Bremer 2, Flatt 2, Cox).
Score by quarters:
Cocke County 14 20 11 20–65
Alcoa 17 17 13 13–60
