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Facing its first elimination game in tournament play, defending champion Morristown East girls took all the suspense out of the equation early, piling up the first 17 points, and cruising to a dominating 75-21 rout of Jefferson County in the first round of the Region 1-4A Tournament Friday night at Isenberg-Siler Gym.

The win was the 24th for Coach Justin Combs’ club and put them in Monday night’s semifinals with the winner of that one earning a spot in the sectionals on Saturday. Their opponent at Sevier County will be West Ridge which handed the Lady ‘Canes one of their six losses on the season.

West Ridge rallied to beat host Maryville, 66-62, on Friday while Sevier County and Science Hill posted blowout wins over Dobyns-Bennett and William Blount.

If the 17-0 start didn’t take any question away, what happened next turned the trick without a doubt.

After Atty Hartsook hit a basket and two free throws for the Lady Patriots, the Lady Hurricanes shut them out over the final 10 minutes of the half and took an unbelievable 49-4 lead to the dressing room at intermission.

Freshman Molli Stuffle poured in 25 points to lead the relentless East attack. Hannah Hall added 16, Kennady Phillips 14 and Jaelyn Valentine 11.

The Lady Hurricanes continued their strong outside shooting by knocking down a dozen three-pointers with Stuffle hitting four, Valentine three and Hall and Phillips two apiece.

Overall, East was 22 of 51 for 43.1 percent. The Lady Patriots, who closed the season with a 12-22 worksheet, managed only 34 shots against the relentless East defense and made six for 17.6 percent.

Phillips grabbed 17 rebounds and Hall 11 as the Lady Hurricanes controlled the backboards 50-20.

Combs commented, “I was really proud of our focus and intensity tonight in the first half. I thought the girls game out and really took care of their assignments defensively and also in controlling the backboards.

“When you do that the ball will find a way to go in the hole for you and we shot it well again, especially early on.”

Combs went on to say, “The first two games in the region was really tough because they’re elimination games and your focus really has to be locked in and the girls handled that well.

“Our offensive production was really balanced and everything seemed to flow well for us out of our transition into our half court sets. I thought our girls flew around defensively and made it hard for them to get clean looks or run their offense,” he said.

“Molli really hunted her shots tonight and credit to her…she will always make that extra pass when it’s the right play. But tonight she hunted her shot a little more and got going early and really got us in a nice rhythm.”

“Hannah, KP and Jaelyn all hit double figures and played great for us,” he stated. “Riley (Forrester) and Kimmy (Jimenez) hit big shots for us as well and Kara (Hotel) came in and played great defense and rebounded well.

“It was really just an all-around great effort from everyone and it was great to get to play everyone as well.”

Zoey Horton led the Lady Patriots with eight points.

The onslaught started with treys by Stuffle, Valentine and Hall. Phillips hit a basket and Hall and Stuffle both converted old-fashioned three-point plays before Hartsook got the visitors on the scoreboard with 2:05 left in the quarter.

Hartsook hit two charity tosses and the next trip down the floor but East went back to work as Stuffle scored four and Forrester three over the final 1:28 of the period for a 24-4 margin at the first break.

Neither team scored in the first two minutes of the second canto but East got to rolling with 25 over the last 5:55 of the half while keeping the Lady Patriots off the scoreboard and it was all but over.

Phillips had 10 and Stuffle six in the second quarter.

Valentine started the third stanza with a corner three and Stuffle came back with another trey before Jefferson County got their first back-to-back baskets of the night, both by Horton, to make it 55-13.

It was 61-13 after three quarters and the largest lead was 75-18 as East’s subs played the fourth quarter with a running clock.