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SEVIERVILLE—Jefferson County captured the District 2-4A Girls Tournament championship with a hard-earned 50-42 victory over Morristown West.

The Lady Patriots scored over half of their points at the free throw line where they hit a deadly 27 of 30 on the night.

Madi Hawk hit 12 charity tosses and led the winners with 18 points. Makenzie Alvey, the tournament’s most valuable player added 11 points while making only one field goal.

It was the 19th win against 11 losses for the Lady Patriots who were the fourth seed.

West, now 16-11, was led by freshman Jhaniya Mitchell’s 15 points while Delaney Weddington had 13.

It was a physical came from the start with two players from each team fouling out. West was 10 of 18 at the free throw line.

Both teams will play at home as the Region One Tournament begins on Friday. West will host West Ridge while Science Hill comes to Jefferson County. Both games will start at 7 p.m.

Neither team could find their shooting touch in the first half as they combined to make only 9 of 40 from the floor with the Lady Patriots holding a 21-15 halftime margin.

The Lady Patriots finished at 9 of 39 for 23.1 percent and made 1 of 11 three-

point tries. West wasn’t much better, making 14 of 54 for 25.9 percent and was 4 of 22 behind the arc.

Jefferson coach Bo Lewis said, “I’m so proud of these girls. They’ve worked really hard and we beat two good teams to win this championship.

“I thought we did a great job on defense in both games and that was the key,” he added. “We made the most of it when we got chances and this was really a true team win.”

West’s Johnny Galyon remarked, “We played really hard but I really didn’t think we played all that well.

“We got good looks on offense but just didn’t make the shots when we got them.”

He closed, “Now we have to put this behind us and get ready for the region. We’ve got a home game and hopefully we’ll shoot it better than we did tonight.”

West scored the first five points but the Lady Patriots rallied to score the final nine points of the first quarter to lead 11-6.

It was 15-8 early in the second stanza before the Lady Trojans fought back within 17-15 only to have Hawk and Kamry Bolin hit two free throw each in the final seconds of the half to put the winners up 21-15.

Jefferson County moved out to lead by 25-17 on a basket by Hawk with 5:01 left in the third period. That was the only bucket the winners had in the quarter.

However, the Lady Trojans came back again as Mitchell sandwiched baskets around five points by Weddington to get West within 29-28 after three quarters.

Kaylee Dyke hit back-to-back three’s to put the Lady Trojans in front 34-33 with 5:58 left in the game.

Alvey’s free throw tied it but Weddington made two free tosses to get West back in front. Hawk’s three-point play shoved Jefferson back into the lead with 5:28 to go before Alvey hit two charity tosses and nailed the Lady Patriots’ only three of the night and it was 42-36 with 4:41 remaining.

Cadence Beaver scored for West but Hawk hit two from the line. Mitchell made a single free throw twice but Hawk hit two more for a 46-40 lead with 1:29 on the clock.

Named to the all-tournament team along with Alvey were Hawk of Jefferson County, Mitchell and Dyke of West and Loveday and Williams of Sevier.

First-team all district were Shultz and Penland of Sevier; Hawk of Jeff County and Weddington of Morristown West with Williams named Player of the Year.

Second-team all district were Loveday of Sevier and Ella Wampler, Hailey Hall, Harmony Sullivan and Finley Surber all of East.

Girls Consolation Game: Sevier County 62, Morristown East 42

Regular-season champion and host Sevier County was in control all the way Saturday afternoon in rolling past Morristown East, 62-42, in the girls consolation game of the District 2-4A Tournament.

The Bearettes put four players in double figures led by Cybil Penland and Hailey Williams with 15 points each in notching their 22nd win against seven losses.

Kinley Loveday chipped in a dozen points and Natali Shultz had 10 for the winners.

Hailey Hall fired in 14 for the Lady Hurricanes who fell to 12-17 for the season. Finley Surber and Josie Helton added eight each for East.

Both teams will be back in action on Friday when they play on the road to open the Region One Tournament. East will play at Daniel Boone while Sevier will play David Crockett.

Hudson Cloninger’s bucket gave East a 7-6 lead midway of the first period before the Bearettes ran off seven straight points and never trailed again.

Sevier County shot 47.2 percent by making 25 of 53 attempts. The Bearettes were 5 of 12 from behind the arc with Penland hitting three of those in the first half.

East finished 18 of 41 for 43.9 percent and made 3 of 11 three-point tries. The Lady ‘Canes’ percentage is kind of misleading as they hit 8 of 12 in the fourth quarter to up it by more than 10 percent.

Williams grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Sevier County to a 37-23 backboard advantage. Surber and Hannah Hall had six each for the Lady ‘Canes.

East coach Justin Combs commented, “It was pretty much the same old story. We had way too many turnovers and missed too many easy shots to beat a good team like Sevier County.

“What makes the turnovers even worse if the fact that so many of them are unforced where we just throw the ball away.

“We’ll definitely have to play better if we expect to win in the region.”

After East led 7-6, Loveday sandwiched buckets around one by Williams and Carson Loveday hit a free throw for a 13-7 lead for the Bearettes.

Hailey Hall hit a three for the Lady ‘Canes but Penland nailed a long one at the buzzer and the Bearettes were on top 16-10 at the first break.

The home team got two free throws to open the second stanza and Aubree Laney made a bucket. Penland then knocked down another triple and the margin was suddenly up to 13 at 23-10.

East never got closer than 12 the rest of the way. It was 38-19 at halftime and the score was doubled at 48-24 with just under three minutes left in the third frame.

It was 49-26 at the last rest stop and the margin reached 26 at 54-28 before East went on a 10-2 run that closed the final period.