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SEVIERVILLE—Morristown West fell behind cross-town rival Morristown East by two points with 2:14 left in the first half Friday night but reeled off 17 straight points to take control and went on to a 67-38 rout to advance to the championship game of the District Two 4-A Tournament.

The Lady Trojans scored the final 10 points of the half to grab a 28-20 advantage and then scored seven more to start the third stanza on the way to their 16th win against 10 losses.

After Finley Surber’s basket broke the drought for the cold-shooting Lady Hurricanes, West pumped in eight more as Aubrie Messer hit two three-pointers and were never threatened after that.

The Lady Trojans outscored East 39-18 over the final two quarters for the easy victory.

Messer hit four three’s and finished with 14 points to lead a very balanced West attack. Delaney Weddington, Kaylee Dyke and Jhaniya Mitchell all added a dozen points.

Surber led East with 11 points while Hannah Hall had nine and Hailey Hall seven. The Lady ‘Canes fell to 12-16 in Justin Combs’ first season as head coach.

The win means West will host a first-round game in the Region One Tournament next week against either Science Hill or West Ridge. East will be on the road at either Daniel Boone or David Crockett. The region will move to the Tribe Athletic Complex after the first round.

West was 24 of 53 from the floor for 45.3 percent and cashed in on 8 of 22 three-point tries. East managed to make only 16 of 53 for 30.2 percent and hit only 2 of 17 from behind the arc.

The teams had 38 rebounds apiece as Weddington and Mitchell had nine each and Messer grabbed eight. Surber had nine and Hannah Hall seven for the Lady ‘Canes.

West coach Johnny Galyon said, “We didn’t get off to a really great start but did a pretty good job once we got going. I thought we hit some big three’s early even though I didn’t think we shot well overall.

“We knew we would get a good effort from East,” Galyon continued. “In the first half, I thought both teams played really, really hard but didn’t hit open shots. When we finally hit some it kind of ignited us a little bit. East has got a really good basketball team.”

He added, “They came out in that box defense on Delaney and it kind of surprised us a little. We actually like it when the other team does that because we feel like it leaves somebody else open. But I thought we adjusted well and got the lead at the half.

“It’s nice to be back in the championship game. We haven’t won one in a while.”

It is West’s first appearance in the finals since 2019, which capped a seven-year streak of title contests.

Combs commented, “We got off to a pretty good start. We thought we could cause them some problems defensively like we did late in the game. We did it some early but it’s hard to put your finger on what happened.

“It was like our energy was good in spots but it wasn’t good for several minutes,” he said. “We got good shots but just couldn’t get them to fall. That was the big difference in the game…they hit their open shots and we didn’t.

“Give West credit, they do a good job defensively and we knew they would get after us. That caused us problems at times but I thought we handled it better tonight than when we played at West. We didn’t have as many turnovers as we did at West and we definitely got better shots. We just couldn’t make them.

“When you only score 38 points you’re not going to win basketball games. But it is what it is and we can’t let this one linger. In post-season you have to snap and clear and now we have to go out tomorrow and meet that challenge with a little better effort.”

East led by 3-2 early in the game before Mia Dinkins and Messer hit three’s and Mitchell added a layup inside. Surber nailed a triple for the Lady ‘Canes but Messer hit another one for West. Josie Helton scored the last two baskets of the quarter for East and the Lady Trojans led 15-10 at the first break.

Hailey Hall hit a three from the top of the circle to start the second period before Dyke hit a free throw. Hannah Hall scored for East and Ella Wampler hit a free throw to tie the game at 16-16.

Mitchell grabbed a rebound and put it back in to give West the lead again but Wampler hit two free throws and Hailey Hall hit a short jumper to give East a 20-18 lead with 2:14 left in the half.

But the next time the Lady ‘Canes got the ball in the basket the Lady Trojans had 35 points on the board. Dyke started the rally with a three and Weddington hit two free throws. Dinkins had a bucket and Dyke hit another triple for the 28-20 halftime lead.

Dyke started the second half just like she ended the first, bombing in another three-pointer. Messer and Weddington both had rebound baskets and it was 35-20 with 4:02 left in the third quarter.

Messer hit two more three’s before the period ended and the Lady Trojans were in command at 47-24 after three periods.

East never got closer than 23 in the fourth quarter.