Clay County Sweeps Bulldogs in District Play

Last Friday night was standing room only to watch the Clay County Bulldogs take on Red Boiling Springs in the Dog Pound.

Clay County came out on top winning the girls game 53-30 and winning the boys game 65-59.

The girls game was all Clay County from start to finish as they built a first quarter lead of 15-8 and 24-19 at halftime. The Lady Bulldogs depended on the three point shot but on this night Clay County kept a hand in their face the entire game holding the Lady Bulldogs to only three made shots from 3 point range for the entire game. Lady Bulldog Kennedy Fleming led the first half scoring with 10 points but was held to only two points in the second half as the Lady Bulldogs scored only 11 points for the entire second half.

Clay County shot lights out for the entire game especially in the second half outscoring the Lady Bulldogs 29-11 and their pressure defense was a big factor in their victory. Clay County won the rebounding battle by 14 and that has been a problem for the Lady Bulldogs all season long. The Lady Bulldogs have very little time to recover as Pickett County comes to the Dog Pound on Tuesday Jan 15th and they will play much the same game as Clay County.

Scoring totals for the Lady Bulldogs was:  Kennedy Fleming 12 points, Lindsey Randolph 8 points, Briley Morgan 5 points, Liz Anderson 3 points, and Haley Davis 2 points.

The boys game figured to be a defensive battle and a lot of personals fouls on both teams. These two teams battled the entire game but Clay County made the shots in the final two minutes and the Bulldogs lost a very close game 65-59.

The Bulldogs expected Clay County to double and triple team Bulldog center Dalton Marsh and that is exactly what they did so the three point shot was wide open for the Bulldogs especially point guard Hunter Kirk who opened the game with two made 3 pointers. He was followed by Matthew Murphy with a 3 pointer plus Dalton Marsh had 2 inside baskets to give the Bulldogs a 19-12 lead after the first quarter. Kendall Thompson and Mason Hix had 2 point baskets. The Bulldogs second quarter was much like the first as super sub James Sampson got the Bulldogs fans excited by making a nice 3 pointer while Kirk scored seven points and the Bulldog defense was on fire with a halftime lead 31-25.

The third quarter was where Clay County got their offense going by posting  28 points and grabbing a 53-50 lead over the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs turned to Mason Hix and he responded by making two nice 3 pointers while Marsh had two baskets. The crowd from both teams was loud and very excited and then things got ugly. The Bulldogs got hit with a technical and one minute later Clay County got hit with a technical. With four minutes left in the game Clay County got hit with their second technical and with three minutes left we have a tie ball game 55 all. The technical foul had little effect on the outcome of the game. What hurt the Bulldogs in the quarter was shots that did not fall as Clay grabbed a 57-55 lead with the ball and held the ball until 42 seconds left in the game and the Bulldogs had to foul. Clay County made their free throws late in the final seconds to take home a 65-59 win.

Scoring totals for the Bulldogs were: Hunter Kirk 19 points, Dalton Marsh 16 points, James Sampson and Mason Hix each had 8 points, Omar Williams 6 points, and Kendall Thompson finished with 2 points. Dalton Thompson played but did not score but had 5 rebounds and 3 assists.