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Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that Delaney Weddington is just a sophomore.

The leading scorer for Morristown West, Weddington has not only done damage to opposing teams in the scoring column but has also been a leader on the court despite being in just her second year in the program.

And on Friday night against their county rivals, all of that was on full display.

Weddington scored 28 points in the contest to go along with a handful of assists as the Lady Trojans dominated from start to finish in a 59-30 win over East.

“I thought Delaney played a pretty clean floor game, especially after the first quarter,” Morristown West coach Johnny Galyon said. “The best thing about Delaney Weddington is that she is a sophomore. That kid works her tail off. A lot of people don’t realize how much she puts into basketball. I’m just proud of her season, not just tonight. She’s going to be one of the better players to come through here in a long time.”

After falling to East on the road earlier in the season, it was the defensive effort from West that was the difference on Friday night. The Lady Trojans held East to five points in the first quarter and a free throw with under a minute left was the only way the Lady ‘Canes found themselves in the 30’s.

“They’re a good basketball team, but I thought we defended well,” Galyon said. “We got off to a good start defending well, and we didn’t have a lot of breakdowns like we did last time. We got out on shooters and rebounded well.”

For Morristown East, it was a difficult result after a strong showing in the two teams’ first matchup. East never led in the game and 0-0 was the only tie for the contest.

“All credit goes to Morristown West,” Morristown East coach Justin Combs said. “They came out with more energy, played harder and wanted it more. That starts with me. I have to get us ready to play. I thought we just came out lifeless, and they had all the energy. It was kind of like the perfect storm.”

Combs was also complementary of the West defense and felt like that took his team out of the game early, as well as the turnovers from his squad.

“I felt like they got a touch on every pass we made,” Combs said. “We got some good looks early but just weren’t able to convert. And our turnovers really killed us tonight.”

Weddington was the leading scorer in the game for West but multiple other players stepped up alongside her. One of those players was freshman Jhaniya Mitchell, who pitched in 12 points.

While there are growing pains at times being just a freshman, Mitchell has improved greatly from the start of the season to now for the Galyon and the Lady Trojans using her size to her advantage in the paint and on the defensive end.

“Confidence,” Galyon said, was the biggest improvement from Mitchell. “She now knows she belongs. She’s averaging 10 points as a freshman. I am super proud of her. The sky is the limit. The best thing about her is that she is a freshman.”

While dealing with foul trouble in the second half, Aubrie Messer was also huge for West in the first half with eight points. A 5-0 run by Messer in the first quarter pushed the West lead to seven, and they were off after that.

“She was huge,” Galyon said. “That’s the Aubrie Messer we have seen for two years. We’ve all been in a little rut here recently, but she came out and did a good job tonight.”

Other scorers for Morristown West were Kaylee Dyke, who Galyon also said had a strong game, with six points, Gracie Bunch with two points, Haven Simpson with two points and Cadence Beaver with one point.

For Morristown East, Finely Surber led the way with 11 points while Hannah and Hailey Hall each added eight points. Other scorers were Hudson Cloninger with two points and Ella Wampler with one point.

With the win, West improved to 13-9 overall and 2-3 in the conference while East fell to 10-12 on the season and 2-3 in conference play.

It was all West to start the game as they were patient on the offensive floor and didn’t force up shots. Dyke scored the first basket two minutes in before Mitchell scored to make it 4-0. Surber got East on the board and, after another Mitchell basket, Hailey Hall hit a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 6-5. However, West scored the final nine points of the quarter to lead 15-5. Messer had five during the run while Weddington hit a free throw and Dyke threw in a 3-pointer.

“We knew their matchup was pretty good, so we had to spread them out a little bit,” Galyon said about the quick start. “I thought we got in some gaps and got some good looks.”

It was more of West to start the second as Messer hit a three and Beaver knocked in a free throw. Surber got going after for East with six points to cut the lead to 21-10 and then two free throws from Hannah Hall and one from Wampler made it an eight-point game. However, Weddington scored with under a minute to go and it was 23-13 at the half.

In the third, West came out quick again as Weddington scored and Dyke and Weddington each hit a free throw. Cloninger scored for East to end the drought, but Mitchell and Weddington each threw in a bucket that made it 31-15. The lead kept growing from there and a 3-pointer by Weddington and baskets by Mitchell and Bunch made it 38-20 heading to the fourth.

The fourth quarter was all Weddington, as she scored 15 points in the final eight minutes to allow West to coast to the victory. Mitchell had four points in the fourth quarter as well while Hannah Hall had five for East.

For Combs, while never wanting a loss like Friday night, he hopes it is a wake-up call for his team and shows them what they need to work on as postseason play approaches.

“We don’t have a choice but to learn from this,” Combs said. “We can’t be that version of us because the result won’t be any different if we are again. We’re just going to get back to the basics and watch film and see our mistakes so that we can fix them.”

Morristown West will return to action on Tuesday as they host Volunteer. Tip is set for 6 p.m. Morristown East will travel to Science Hill on Tuesday to take on the Lady Hilltoppers. Tip is set for 6 p.m.

The two teams will close out the district schedule on Friday as West travels to Sevier County and East hosting Jefferson County. With both East and West sitting at 2-3 in the district, and Jeff County 1-4, seeds 2-4 are still up for grabs in the district tournament.