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Morristown West put up a valiant effort on Friday evening in the opening round of the Region 1-4A Tournament but could not get over the hump.

Trailing West Ridge by 11 points entering the fourth quarter, twice the Lady Trojans made it a two-point game. However, that’s as far as they could get as West Ridge ended West’s season with a 56-47 defeat.

With the loss, the Lady Trojans finished the season with a record of 16-12. The loss was the final game for seniors Mia Dinkins and Gracie Bunch.

“That’s a good team, I think they play under the radar a lot,” West coach Johnny Galyon said. “I thought they hit some big shots early to dictate the game. Our kids played hard. We just really couldn’t get that stop.

“We’ll build on it. We had a good year and have a lot of young kids. We had two really good seniors that we love to death in Mia Dinkins and Gracie Bunch. You have to tip your hats to them because they played it out the right way.”

It was the height of West Ridge that proved to be the difference maker in the game, with West Ridge pitting their two 6-foot players in the paint. That forced West to take countless outside shots instead of trying to get the ball in the paint.

When the Lady Trojans did make their comeback in the fourth quarter, it had a lot to do with their effort to get into the paint. That led to some easy buckets and also opened up the outside shot.

“That’s really what we talked about at halftime, just trying to get the guards to break it down low because they were extending,” Galyon said. “We settled for a lot of three’s, which we can make, but when we made our big run it was because we drove in and got in gaps.”

Delaney Weddington led the way in the game for the Lady Trojans with 10 points while Jhaniya Mitchell and Kaylee Dyke each added nine points.

Other scorers for West were Mia Dinkins with eight, Aubrie Messer with seven and Cadence Beaver with four.

It was a quick start for West Ridge as they broke out to a 10-3 lead. Mitchell scored to calm the storm and, after a missed free throw, the Lady Trojans got the offensive rebound and Dinkins scored to make it 10-8.

The Lady Trojans would then take the lead on a Weddington 3-pointer. Dyke put the Lady Trojans up 14-11 late with another 3-pointer, but West Ridge answered with a three to tie the score at 14 after one.

In the second, West scored just five points as West Ridge led 25-19 at the break. Messer had two in the quarter while Mitchell hit a 3-pointer with 15 seconds left.

In the third, the Lady Trojans continued to fight as they got the lead down to two midway through on a Messer 3-pointer. However, West Ridge rallied off nine straight points to end the quarter and led 40-29.

In the fourth, the Lady Trojans made multiple efforts to try and steal the win. Trailing by 10 a minute in, West went on an 8-0 run that culminated with a made 3-pointer by Beaver as she was fouled. The free throw made it 42-40.

West Ridge would answer back with four straight but Weddington scored four straight of her own to make it 46-44. Unfortunately for West, that was as close as they would get.

As the Lady Trojans close out the season, there are multiple positives to be taken away. One of those was the playing time that freshmen, such as Mitchell and Kalyssa Dinkins, got so early on in their high school careers.

“It was huge,” Galyon said. “They’re going to be better next year. Jhaniya is one of the better players in the conference. She’s going to be a dominant force the next two-three years. And she is wanting to play. It’s exciting for us.”

Along with those two, the Lady Trojans will return almost their entire roster next season. For Galyon, he hopes this is just the start for his young group.

“We have our nucleus back,” Galyon said. “We’re going to be bigger and stronger and faster. We’re going to be in the mix in the coming years, you can believe that. Just wish we could have extended the season a little more. But that’s just the way it goes sometimes. I thought our kids played hard.”

Washburn’s historic season comes to end in Region 1-1A Tournament

Washburn’s historic season came to an end on Friday night, falling to Unaka 53-36 in the opening round of the Region 1-1A Tournament.

The loss closes Washburn’s season at 22-11. The Lady Pirates were District 2-1A Tournament Champions and they broke the school record for wins in a season. Coach Daniel Bishop was the District 2-1A Coach of the Year while Braelyn Coffey was the District 2-1A Co-Player of the Year.

Braelyn Coffey scored 25 of Washburn’s 36 points in the game. Other scorers were Saylor Clay with four, Ebany Hill with four, Callie Nicley with two and Hannah Williams with one.

The first quarter set the tone as Washburn scored just six points and trailed by seven. Coffey scored all six points.

In the second, Washburn cut into the lead with 13 points. The Lady Pirates trailed 20-19 at the half as Coffey scored six and Clay scored four.

Things went backwards for Washburn in the third as they trailed 31-26 going to the fourth. Coffey had four points while Hill hit a three.

In the fourth, Unaka scored 22 points to Washburn’s 10 as they went on for the win.

LAKEWAY AREA SCORES

Cocke County 69, Unicoi County 60

The Lady Red will take on Greeneville in the Region 1-3A Semifinals on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Elizabethton.

Elizabethton 77, Claiborne 32

Hampton 86, Hancock County 25

Cloudland 48, Cosby 34