The Cumberland County Lady Jets opened their game with Rhea County Tuesday with all guns blaring. CCHS’ smothering defensive pressure forced the Lady Eagles into several turnovers, and offensively, if they weren’t scoring in transition, the Lady Jets shot well from the field.
That helped Cumberland County grab a 70-42 victory in Crossville. CCHS beat Rhea County 50-26 on the road earlier this season.
“Anytime you beat a team and it is so lopsided, you’re always concerned about how your team is going to respond the second time,” said Cumberland County coach Kim Cram-Torres. “What is their mindset going to be? Are they going to play aggressive.?”
The win was the fifth straight for Cumberland County and pushed the Lady Jets to 6-1 overall. The loss dropped Rhea County to 6-5 on the year.
“I thought we had a great first quarter,” Cram-Torres said. “I didn’t like how we responded in the second quarter when they made a run. We took a lot of plays off mentally, so we gave away a lot of open shots. But overall, we played really hard.
“But you can’t look at the scores and say ‘Well, why isn’t coach happy? The game is so lopsided.’ That’s because the way you play matters.”
Cumberland County didn’t waste any time throwing the first punch. The Lady Jets got big buckets from Sydney Wilhite and Lauren Clark and raced to a 13-3 advantage, and then closed out the period to take a 22-7 lead at the horn.
Things didn’t get any better for Rhea County as the Lady Jets turned up the switch on the defense and forced several turnovers and were able to turn many into layups on the other end of the floor. That surge included six straight points right before the intermission, leading 48-26.
“We have the ability to score in transition, whether it is a layup, whether is a 3-pointer, or whether it is a post-entry situation,” Cram-Torres said. “We want to score in transition, and we want to play faster than our opponents. I think tonight we did a good job of that.”
Both teams substituted freely in the second half. However, Cumberland County was able to find the bucket. The Lady Jets got baskets from Aliyah Hawkins, Daminica Beal and Madi Wagoner in the final two periods to help CCHS lead by as much as 25 points at 64-39.
“I think with this defense, there is always things we can do better,” Cram-Torres said. “There are always things to fix. Tonight, I don’t think we rotated great, and a lot of that had to do with our intensity level. We were kind of playing with the score instead of playing with purpose.”
Cumberland County’s freshman sensations Wilhite and Clark led the Lady Jets in scoring with 23 and 21 points, respectively. Hawkins added 13 points and Baldwin scored eight. Beal and Wagoner scored two each, while Alexis Carrol chipped in one.
Lakyn Lockhart led Rhea County with 13 points, while Jenna Bouchard scored eight and Emma Reeves had six.
Up next, Cumberland County will travel to battle Clarkrange on Dec. 15. The girls’ game is set to begin at 6 p.m.
“It is really hard to go to Clarkrange and win,” said Cram-Torres. “It is very difficult to sweep Clarkrange. So, it is not going to be easy Friday.”