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Fans who watched Morristown East girls blast Johnson City Science Hill, 62-26, to win the District 1-4A Tournament championship were probably shocked when they heard the all-conference team announced after the game Monday night at Isenberg-Siler Gym.

Lady Hurricanes’ Hannah Hall wasn’t a first-team all-conference player, according to the league coaches, but the way she dominated East’s third 30-plus point win over Science Hill this season proved otherwise.

Whether or not Hall was aware of the snub before the game, she responded by becoming the tournament’s MVP.

Hall put on quite a show, scoring a career-high 32 points and also pulling down 16 rebounds. She scored 23 of East’s 28 in the first half, including all 16 in the second quarter when East took charge of the contest.

Hall was a second-team all-conference player but was chosen as the Big East defensive player of the year.

All of that aside, East, which shared the regular-season title with West Ridge, won its second straight district championship after taking District 2-4A last season before being moved to District 1 by blasting the Lady Hilltoppers.

But Hall certainly didn’t do it alone as it was a true team victory. Freshman Kennady Phillips added 22 points and scored 16 in the third frame.

Coach Justin Combs’ squad improved to 23-6 for the season and will begin defense of its Region 1-4A crown by hosting a Region 1 first-round game on Friday when they entertain familiar foe Jefferson County, a team they have beaten twice this season.

The hot shooting Lady Hurricanes bombed away from the outside, hitting 10 of 20 three-point attempts. Hall and Phillips bagged four apiece and Molli Stuffle and Riley Forrester made one each.

Phillips, Stuffle and Jaelyn Valentine all joined Hall on the All-Tournament team and both freshmen earned first-team all-conference. Filling out the all-tourney squad were Amiah Lewis, Khloe Sommers and Gabby Long of Science Hill, Carter Jones and Teagan Tipton of West Ridge and Sally McReynolds of Dobyns-Bennett.

Science Hill, which is now 14-16 and will host William Blount in Friday’s region opener, had no answer as the Lady ‘Toppers made only 11 of 45 from the field for 24.4 percent including 2 of 16 from behind the arc.

With Hall leading the way East also dominated the boards, 44-18. Phillips and Forester added six rebounds each and Stuffle had five for the Lady ‘Canes.

Khloe Sommers led the losers with 12 points and nobody else scored more than five.

East finished the night 21 of 36 from the floor for 58.3 percent and hit 10 of 15 free throws.

Combs was pleased with the win and happy for his team. “Man, what can I say? What a performance from the Lady ‘Canes tonight. We were absolutely fantastic on both ends of the court. I thought that might have been one of our best defensive efforts since I’ve been at East.

“I can’t say enough about how locked in the girls were on the defensive game plan and scouting report,” he said. “It was a fantastic job by our coaching staff on getting them ready. Coaches (Case) Sullivan, (Tracy) Hall, and (Madison) Bunch do a great job and I can’t say enough about how valuable they are to me and the girls.

“Our girls were highly motivated to come out tonight and make a statement and they did exactly that.”

Combs talked about the play of Hall. “What an effort from our senior leader tonight. She was on a mission the whole tournament and man did she show out tonight. I could never say enough about how valuable her leadership is.

“I’ve coached for a long time and had the privilege and pleasure of watching some great players put on some great shows. But tonight’s performance from Hannah would be ranked right up there with the best I’ve ever seen. She wasn’t going to be denied and her teammates rallied around her and played fantastic basketball for East all game.

“They are an unbelievably unselfish bunch and we’ve talked all year about playing for each other every possession and tonight you could see that bond play out on the floor.

“I thought KP had a really nice second half for us offensively and even thought some of the other girls didn’t score as many points as usual they were making great passes, rebounding and playing great defense the whole game. So it was just a total team effort.”

Combs went on to say, “Molli’s defense on Lewis tonight was really great. To hold her to two points was phenomenal.

“We still have goals out there to achieve and as much as we’ll enjoy this win we’ll get back to work tomorrow to get ready for Jefferson County on Friday.”

Science Hill coach Beau Hualdren simply said, “Morristown East is a really good basketball team that had a really good night.”

Hall made the first two baskets of the game and then she and Phillips bombed in three’s as East grabbed a quick 10-3 advantage with the ‘Toppers’ only points coming on a banked three-pointer from the top of the circle by Clara Crowe.

Science Hill fought back within 12-8 after one quarter but Hall scored all of East’s points in the second canto as they upped their lead to 28-13 at halftime.

Phillips picked up where Hall left off in the third stanza as East pulled steadily away with scoring runs of eight and 12 to lead 54-19 after three periods and setup a running clock for the final quarter that saw mostly subs on the floor.

Big East Conference Awards

ALL TOURNAMENT—Hannah Hall (MVP), Kennady Phillips, Molli Stuffle, Jaelyn Valentine from East; Khloe Sommers, Amiah Lewis, Gabby Long from Science Hill; Carter Jones, Teagan Tipton from West Ridge; Sally McReynolds from Dobyns-Bennett.

REGULAR SEASON AWARD—Player of Year, Jones of West Ridge; Hustle Award, Sommers of Science Hill; Newcomer of Year, Kennady Phillips of East; Defensive Player of Year, Hannah Hall of East. First Team All-Conference: Sommers, Jones, McReynolds of Dobyns-Bennett, Phillips, Molli Stuffle of East; Jhaniya Mitchell of West. Second Team All-Conference: Teagan Tipton, Millie Shelton of West Ridge; Hall of East; Jocelin Murray of West; Reese Haselton of Dobyns-Bennett. Local Honorable Mention: Riley Forrester, Jaelyn Valentine of East; Maddie Simpson, Haven Simpson of West.