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Cocke County took the lead late in the third quarter and then used an endless parade of free throws for a hard-earned 62-55 victory over Morristown East Friday night at Isenburg-Siler Gym.

Paige Niethammer pumped in 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Lady Fighting Cockes upped their record to 18-10 for the season. Nobody else was in double figures for the winners but Blake Clevenger added nine and Adison McNealy eight.

Ella Wampler led the Lady Hurricanes, now 12-14, with 15 points and Hannah Hall had 13. Hailey Hall and Finley Surber chipped in nine each.

The Big Red made only 12 of 25 free throw tries but it was enough to provide the victory. East got to the charity stripe only six times and made four. The Lady ‘Canes never got in the one-and-one in the second half.

East played much better than in a loss to Farragut on Thursday night and led by as many as nine points in the first half.

However, the Lady Red scored nine straight points in the third stanza to take the lead. Niethammer had the final seven in that spurt.

The lead then changed hands five times and the game was tied three times before Clevenger’s basket with 15 seconds left in the quarter put the visitors in front 49-47 at the final break.

Niethammer made the first bucket of the fourth frame before the free throw parade began. Surber scored for East to close it back down to two points but Destiny Reese hit a free throw and Clevenger made two. After a missed free throw Hannah Hall scored and the Lady ‘Canes were within 53-51 with 4:53 to go. .

McNealy hit from the foul line and Niethammer had a bucket and the lead was six before Wampler scored for the home team. But Reese got free for a layup. Hailey Hall scored for East to get the margin to four at 59-55 with 1:44 left.

However, the Lady ‘Canes came up empty on every shot attempt after that and the Lady Red cashed on half of their six free throws for the victory.

East coach Justin Combs was disappointed with the loss but was happy his team played better. “I was proud of our effort tonight and proud of our intensity. We played well enough to win the game but we didn’t make enough plays at the end.

“We got good looks but just couldn’t get them to fall,” he added. “Give Cocke County credit. In the second half, Paige put them on her shoulders and made big shot after big shot. She’s a tough matchup for us because she can take you outside or in. She really stepped up tonight and carried her team.

“But it was a night-and-day turn-around for us from last night,” Combs said. “And that’s what I really wanted to see from our kids, to see how they responded after the way we played at Farragut.”

Combs said, “They took away some of our inside stuff in the second half and that really made the difference. The free throws were one-sided but to be fair we were putting them on the line at the end.

“We’ve got one more chance to get better for the tournament with Greeneville on Monday night. You know Farragut, Cocke County and Greeneville for your last three is really good competition. If that doesn’t get you ready for the district I don’t know what could.”

Cocke County made 23 of 52 from the floor for 44.2 percent including 4 of 9 from behind the arc.

The Lady ‘Canes shot just 36.4 on 24 of 66 including only 3 of 21 three-point tries.

East had a 46-39 rebounding edge as Surber grabbed 11 and Wampler, Hannah Hall and Hailey Hall all had eight.

All five starters scored for the Lady ‘Canes in the first quarter as they scored the final 10 points to lead 17-8 at the first break. Surber had seven in the period.

Niethammer hit a three to get the visitors within 24-23 midway of the second quarter but East reeled off eight straight points and led 34-27 at halftime.

Wampler and Reese traded old-fashioned three-point plays to begin the third stanza but Niethammer scored seven straight as the Lady Red wiped out the lead.