Macon County Teams Defeat White House on the Road
MCHS Splits Wins With Westmoreland at home on Saturday
By Misty Green
The Macon County High School Basketball teams traveled to White House on January 18, 2011 and returned home with their third District 9AA victories.
In the girls game… The Tigerettes improved to 15-1, 3-0 after defeating the Lady Blue Devils of White House by a final score of 57-33.
Macon County trailed 16-12 in the opening quarter, but before the halftime break they were back on top with a 24-19 advantage. The Tigerettes continued to dominate White House in the last half of the game, leading 38-29 in the third period, before taking home the win. White House dropped to 3-9 in the regular season, and 1-2 for district play.
Tigerette Katelyn Bean led the Tigerettes to victory with 19 points, before fouling out mid-way through the fourth quarter. Bean was followed by Katie Reid with 18 points, Terra Pryor with nine points, Kailyn Brooks and Haley Harris with four points each, Katie Beth Meador with two points, and Michaela Thompson with one point.
In the boys game… The Tigers improved to 12-6 after defeating the Blue Devils of White House with a final score of 46-41.
After the first quarter of play, Macon County held an 11-9 advantage over White House, which continued throughout the second half, 21-18. The Blue Devils trailed Macon County 33-28 in the third period, before being handed their first district loss by a final score of 46-41.
Tyler Manning led the Tigers to victory with 21 points, including four three-pointers, followed by Zack Billenstein with 11 points, Dallas Grace with six points, Trey McPherson with five points, Mic Wise with two points, and Andrew Kempf with one point.
MCHS vs. Westmoreland
Due to the recent snow and game cancellations, the Macon County High School Basketball teams juggled their schedule and was able to compete in another District 9AA game on Saturday, January 22, 2011.
The Macon County High School gymnasium was packed with fans as the girls game between Macon County and Westmoreland got underway.
The Lady Eagles led the opening quarter 13-10, and before the halftime break, the Tigerettes were trailing 23-21. Each team added 14 points to their score in the third quarter, however the Lady Eagles was able to dominate the last period to take a 52-47 District 9AA win over Macon County.
“We were having to play catch up all night, and we got in foul trouble early on with Katelyn Bean,” Head Coach Jeff Beam stated after the game,” adding, “she had to spend a lot of time over there with us, and were not a real good team when she has to stay on the bench.”
“I’m not going to make excuses, I thought Westmoreland played hard and did a good job defensively. I did think the fourth quarter, that we were going to close the gap on them, when they started missing some free throws, but we didn’t capitalize and make the lay-ups and some of the free throws that we needed to.”
Westmoreland’s final 15 points put in during the fourth quarter, were comprised solely on free throws, not making one shot from the field. “What causes that, is your having to play catch up. We never got the lead. Early on, we got up to about four, but we never did break it out and get that 6-0 or 8-0 run, and that’s important in these kind of ball games.”
“I told the girls in the locker room that you have to go back to work, because this basketball team has been through a whole lot with injuries and things like that, but we have to bring it together and get better.”
Knowing that Macon County has to face Westmoreland one more time in District 9AA play, Coach Beam commented, “All your really doing now is playing for seed in the tournament, and tonight I didn’t feel like we played our best, having six turnovers in the first half, that we don’t normally do.”
“I also thought we put them on the foul line way too much,” Coach Beam added. “I told the girls we need to stop lay-ups and not put them on the foul line, and I didn’t think we did a good job of sliding over and taking charge. This is something that we’re going to have to build on, and it’s not like it’s the end of the world, it’s a ball game. It’s early in the year, and we’ll get back to practice.”
“We have got Sycamore on Monday, January 24, weather permitting, and right now I don’t think you can make excuses. I tell them they have got to pick their intensity up, and in the last few games, I feel like we were kind of flat. I thought in the third quarter, we were about to get that lead and pull away a little bit, but we just didn’t hit some of the shots, made some turnovers, and gave them some easy baskets.”
“Sycamore has probably not lost a game. I’m sure that they are excited, probably seeing that Westmorland has beat us at home. So we’re not going to make excuses, we’re just going to have to get to work and get better, and bring our intensity level up in this next game.”
“Hume Fogg is on the schedule for Tuesday, January 25, and depending on the weather, it might be one of those things that we have to move Hume Fogg to play a district game, but as for right now everything is a go.”
The Tigerettes were led by Kelsey Gregory with 19 points, followed by Katie Reid with 13 points, Katelyn Bean with nine points, Kailyn Brooks with five points, and Haley Harris with one point.
The Tigerettes dropped to 15-2 for the season, as the Lady Eagles improved to 17-2.
In the boys game… The Macon County High School Tigers exploded the first quarter of the game against Westmoreland 17-9 and never looked back for a final victory score of 63-47.
The Tigers improved to 13-6 for the season, as the Eagles dropped to 6-13.
The Tigers were led by Dallas Grace with 20 points, followed by Zack Billenstein with 13 points, Trey McPherson with 11 points, Shawn Kemp with five points, Brantley Russell with four points, Tyler Manning and Mic Wise with three points each, and Aaron Carter and Andrew Kempf with two points each.
Brantley Russell takes two-free shots in the game against the Eagles. Photo By Misty Green
MCHS has scheduled their Homecoming Ceremony for February 1, 2011 at 5 p.m., with the game to be played against Greenbrier immediately following.
