Basketball Preview

2021 • 2022

Basketball Preview

Inside: • Local Team Previews • Rosters and • Schedules Supplement of the

Elizabethton Star

PAGE 2 SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27-28, 2021

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Table of Contents Elizabethton Cyclones........................................5 Lady Cyclones....................................................7 Hampton Bulldogs..............................................9 Lady Bulldogs...................................................11 Happy Valley Warriors......................................13 Lady Warriors...................................................15

Unaka Rangers..................................................17 Lady Rangers....................................................19 Cloudland Highlanders.....................................21 Lady Highlanders..............................................23 Johnson County Longhorns..............................25 Lady Longhorns................................................27

Contributers:

General Manager: Delaney Scalf • Writers: Ivan Sanders • Photography: Ivan Sanders & Dawn Lambert and Contributed • Layout/Cover Design: Robin Johnson For the current information about your favorite athlete or team like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/elizabethtonstar and follow up at twitter@EZStar_Sports

Good Luck to All Area Teams!

Bank your own way. citizensbank24.com

PAGE 4 SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27-28, 2021

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Another great basketball season tips off

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

By the time readers open the front page of the 2021-2022 basketball tab, most teams in the county will have tipped off their new basketball campaign.

And boy what a season it is shaping up to be with some teams moving to new conference alignments, new coaches taking over at a couple of schools, and teams outlook for a tough conference slate in the Watauga Valley Conference.

Elizabethton is moving to the Upper Lakes Conference where their new foes will be the likes of Volunteer, Tennessee High, Unicoi Co., and Sullivan East.

Meanwhile, Happy Valley also is looking at a new conference alignment where the Warriors will actually stand a much fairer opportunity to compete against the likes of South Greene, West Greene, Chuckey Doak, and Johnson Co. Meanwhile, the Watauga Valley Conference in both boys and girls competition looks loaded for bear with an even parity where some coaches feel the leader of the pack will be the one who is able to snare a couple of road trip wins while defending their home court.

Cloudland welcomes a new boy’s head coach in Spencer Nave while the Hampton Lady Bulldogs welcome back Brandon Carpenter to the coaching ranks after a seven-year hiatus.

This is one season that fans need to mark a day or two a week to go out and watch these local prep teams as all indications point to a tremendous season for all Carter County teams.

Good luck to Cloudland, Elizabethton, Hampton, Happy Valley, Unaka and Johnson County on their upcoming season. The Star looks forward to providing coverage of all our great schools in the 2021-2022 season.

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2021-2022 Elizabethton Cyclones

Cyclones looking to force the tempo

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

C

yclone head coach Lucas Honeycutt enters his 10th season at the helm of the Cyclone basketball team and has been known to bring the best out of his players especially when it gets down to post-season play.

The 2021-2022 season shouldn’t be any different as Honeycutt has a good stable of returning players plus a few from the football team that should help make a big contribution in the upcoming season.

“With the amount of talent we have, we expect to play uptempo,” said Honeycutt.

“We want to get up and down the floor as much as possible to utilize our depth, which will be a strength for us.

“Defensively, we play man but may have to play some zone situations where we don’t

match up well. We are small compared to our conference opponents, but we like that we have a number of guys who can contribute to our team.”

Honeycutt will count heavily on some of his standout players from last season to lead on the floor this year.

Those players include Jake Roberts, Nicholas Wilson, Nate Stephens, Bryce VanHuss, Seth Carter, and Dalton Mitchell who all played alot of minutes for the Cyclones in the 2020-2021 season.

Also, Honeycutt will be leading on some new additions to shore up the depth the Cyclones will be relying on.

“We expect some of our new additions to help significantly Bryson Rollins, Cade Russell, and Bradley Cannon who will all bring strength and athleticism to our team,” said Honeycutt. “Mason Ball is expected to play big minutes for us inside this season.”

The Cyclones will be playing in the new Upper Lakes Conference this season which includes Volunteer, Tennessee High, Sullivan East, Unicoi County, and Elizabethton.

The conference is working hard to bring back enthusiasm to basketball by offering a special opportunity for students from each conference school.

“Our conference is trying to get our students involved to help with the atmosphere as each school in the conference has their own student section who will all be wearing an identifying t-shirt,” Honeycutt said.

“Ours will be called the “Bestys Buckets” and students who join the student section will get in at a discounted price at conference games.”

Honeycutt will be eyeing win number 200 in his career as he needs 21 victories this season to do so. His current overall record stands at 179-100.

Lucas Honeycutt Head Coach

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2021-2022 Cyclones Boys’ Varsity Basketball Roster

The 2021-22 Elizabethton High School basketball cheerleaders are as follows: (front L-R) Rheagan Haynes, Lindy Simerly, and Rebekah Hardin. (Second row L-R) Xandi Crockett, Maely Ingram, Madison Holly, Haley Stresemann, and Lainey Snodgrass. (Back L-R) Hailey Beverly, Sara Zimmerman, Kiarra Kerr, Cagney Bennett, Cassidy Estep, and Morgan Guinn.

Name Number Grade Position Height Jake Roberts 0 Sr. Guard 6’0” Bryson Rollins 1 Sr. Guard 6’1” Nate Stephens 3 Jr. Guard 5’10” Seth Carter 10 Sr. Guard 5’10” Bryce VanHuss 12 Sr. Guard 5’10” Kaleb Hambrick 14 Jr. Guard 5’8” Dalton Mitchell 15 Jr. Guard 6’0” Will Churchill 21 So. Guard 6’0” Mac Paulson 22 So. Guard 6’3” Cade Russell 24 Jr. Guard 6’0” Bradley Cannon 42 Jr. Center 6’5” Caleb Franklin 44 Sr. Center 6’3” Nicholas Wilson 50 Sr. Forward 6’5” Mason Ball 54 So. Forward 6’4” Head Coach: Lucas Honeycutt Assistant Coach: Barry Edney, Gary Harrison, Tee Blevins Book Keeper: Kevin Harmon Statistician: Craig Emmert Trainers: Erin Kiser, Sylvester Contreras

2021-2022 Elizabethton Cyclones Schedule 30 Cosby

November

December 7 at Dobyns-Bennett 13 at Happy Valley 14 Johnson Co. 20 Happy Valley 27-1/2/2022 at Tampa Bay January 4 at Johnson Co. 7 Sullivan East* 11 Dobyns-Bennett 14 Volunteer*

18 Unicoi Co.* 21 at Tennessee High* 25 at Sullivan East* 29 at Cosby February 1 at Volunteer* 4 at Unicoi Co.* 5 Happy Valley 8 Tennessee High* 11 Morristown West 18-22 District Tournament @ Volunteer 25-3/2 Regional Tournament @ Greeneville *denotes conference game

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2021-2022 Elizabethton Lady Cyclones

Lady Cyclones young but talented

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

E

lizabethton Lady Cyclone head coach Lucas Andrews is a man of few words but when it comes to basketball he has more knowledge about the game than what one may think.

This year, Andrews who is entering his fifth season at the helm of the Lady Cyclones will be taking a team with no seniors into battle, but that doesn’t cause much concern because the team that he will be putting on the floor has many, many games of basketball under them from playing for Andrews to playing travel basketball.

Andrews likes to push the basketball and this year won’t be any different.

“We really want to play fast and with more uptempo than what we have before,” said Andrews. “We will be running multiple defensive looks.”

Andrews will be counting on players such as Lina Lyon and Renne Lane who are two returning starters to bring leadership

to the floor. Other returners that Andrews has a lot of confidence in includes Maddie Fowler, Katie Lee, Olivia Holly, Reiley Whitson, and Marlee Mathena who all will be counted on to contribute offensively.

The Lady Cyclone skipper has made sure to load his schedule with top teams to help his team mature playing teams such as Grainger, Morristown West, Jeff County, Dobyns-Bennett and Science Hill and then travel to Tampa during Christmas to play in a large tournament in Florida.

New conference foes Tennessee High and Volunteer will definitely also present a challenge to go along with Sullivan East and Unicoi Co. who always have strong girl’s teams.

Andrews has added long time Hampton and Johnson County assistant coach Garry Smith to the bench. Smith brings a barrel full of knowledge to the table in coaching girls as he sat beside Leon Tolley for many years.

The Lady Cyclones will be a tough opponent for any team this season and will be battling to be in the thick of the hunt when district tournament time rolls around.

Lucas Andrews Head Coach

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2021-2022 Elizabethton Lady Cyclones # Name Height Position Grade 3 Olivia Holly 5’8 Guard Jr. 4 Lina Lyon 5’5 Guard Jr. 11 Aubrey Cole 5’7 Guard Fr. 15 Peyton McGee 5’5 Guard Fr. 20 Kayelyn Nave 5’10 Forward Fr. 21 Renna Lane 5’11 Guard Jr. 23 Marlee Mathena 6’2 Forward So. 33 Maddie Fowler 5’10 Forward Jr..

42 Reiley Whitson 5’6 Guard So. 44 Katie Lee 5’10 Forward Jr. Head Coach: Lucas Andrews Assistant Coach: Maci Andrews, Melenda Egolf, Garry Smith, Gordon Smith.

Manager: Sam Taylor

2021-2022 Elizabethton Lady Cyclones Schedule 30 Cosby

November

December 2 at Science Hill 7 at Dobyns-Bennett 9 at Morristown West 13 at Happy Valley 14 Johnson Co. 20 Happy Valley 27-1/2/2022 at Tampa Bay January 4 at Johnson Co. 7 Sullivan East* 11 Dobyns-Bennett 14 Volunteer*

18 Unicoi Co.* 21 at Tennessee High* 25 at Sullivan East* 29 at Cosby February 1 at Volunteer* 4 at Unicoi Co.* 5 Happy Valley 8 Tennessee High* 11 Morristown West 12 Science Hill 18-22 District Tournament @ Volunteer 25-3/2 Regional Tournament @ Greeneville

*denotes conference game

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2021-2022 Hampton Bulldogs

Bulldogs to rely on depth and experience

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

W

hen a team plays the Hampton Bulldogs, they know what they are getting in a Coach Ned Smith-led team and it won’t be any different this season as Smith hopes to take advantage of the returning experience that is often not afforded to smaller schools.

“We have six seniors this year so we have a little bit more experience,” Smith said. “We only had three last year. We are excited this year because having six seniors for a small school is big for us.

“We also have some younger guys that have really worked hard to in Cadon Buckles and Hayden Campbell in the off season.”

Smith loves defense as much or more than offense and Bulldog teams are known for their tenacious play. Smith feels that this year’s team has some great qualities about them on and off the court.

“This is a great bunch of guys who are fun to work with,” he said. “You can take these guys anywhere and they know how to behave.”

Smith will be looking to play an up tempo style of basketball - pressing on defense and pushing the ball up the floor with his quick guard line up.

He believes that on any given night eight to 10 players could see action especially in the tough league that the Watauga Valley Conference poises for this season.

“I think that the league is up for grabs,” Smith said. “We think each school has their own unique home-court advantage and I

think it will come down to that and in who will be able to steal a couple of wins on the road.

“U-H has the big floor that is different from the small schools. And then you have the small schools who have the loud crowds on the floor with you.”

Two road blocks always seem to come up yearly for the Bulldogs in their quest for a state berth in district foe North Greene and regional foe Cosby as the Eagles managed to sneak out a heartbreaking win in the 2021 regional final to squash the ‘Dogs hopes of going to Murfreesboro.

“North Greene is really good and Cosby is going to shoot it and shoot it deep,” Smith said. “We have to go to work and outwork them this year. Coming in second and having to go on the road makes it hard to have to dig out of.”

Ned Smith Head Coach

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2021-2022 Hampton Bulldogs

The 2021-2022 Hampton High School basketball cheerleaders are as follows: (Front L-R) Co-Captain Isabelle Bowers, Captain Kylie Odom, and Co-Captain Kyndal Scalf.

(Middle L-R) Makayla Burleson, Cheyenne Fair, Lauren Hyder, Emma Harmon, Chloe Bradley, Shania Pierce, Briley Curtis, and Laci Shingleton-Taylor. (Back L-R) Anna Hatley, Hannah Smith, Keagen Campbell, Allison Bowers, Briley Davis, Amber Gilbert, Sydney Covington, Marina Bailey, and Jessa Hampton.

# Name Position Grade 0 Levi Lyons Guard Jr. 1 Dylan Trivett Guard So. 2 Michael Harrison Guard Sr. 3 Michael Anspaugh Guard So. 4 Isaiah McCoury Guard Sr. 10 Ty McElyea Forward Jr. 11 Cadon Buckles Guard Jr. 12 Dalton Holtsclaw Guard Sr. 14 Logan Whitehead Forward Sr. 20 Chance Point Forward So. 23 Brody Hicks Forward Jr. 24 Morgan Lyons Forward Sr. 30 Conor Burleson Post Sr. 32 Austin Bentley Forward Jr. 34 Hayden Campbell Post So. 35 Geno Carrico Forward So. Head Coach: Ned Smith Assistant Coach: Dewayne Humphrey, Mike Matheson, Wesley Murray, Freddie Julian

2021-2022 Hampton Bulldogs Schedule 30 West Greene

November

December 3 Happy Valley 7 Unicoi Co. 10 at Unaka* 14 at South Greene 17 Johnson Co. 20-21 Jackson Co. & Clay Co. at Clay Co. H.S. 27-29 Christmas Tourney at Maryville H.S. January 4 South Greene 6 at Happy Valley

8 at Chuckey Doak 11 at U-H* 14 North Greene* 21 Cloudland* 24 at Johnson Co. 28 Unaka* February 1 at Unicoi Co. 4 U-H* 7 at North Greene* 11 at Cloudland* 12 Chuckey Doak 15 at West Greene *denotes conference game

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2021-2022 Hampton Lady Bulldogs

Lady Bulldogs looking to turn defense into offense

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

T

he Hampton Lady Bulldogs enter the 2021-2022 season with a new head coach on board as after a seven-year stint away from coaching the game, Brandon Carpenter returns to the coaching arena to lead the Lady Bulldogs after Bud Hazelwood retired at the end of last season.

Carpenter had coached on the boys side at Cloudland before he took some time off but is excited to be back coaching the Lady Bulldogs.

“It felt good when we had that first camp to get back in the groove,” said Carpenter. “I have been real pleased with how the girls have come along.

“It’s not a whole lot different. We demand

the same thing out of them as we did the boys.

It’s actually went pretty smooth. They have made the transition pretty well honestly.”

Hampton struggled offensively in the 2020-2021 campaign and Carpenter believes that if this team buys into what he is selling, their defense will provide several opportunities to score on the offensive end.

“We are sticking with the same thing as I did with my boy’s teams,” Carpenter said.

“We are doing a lot of pressing and up-tempo offense and the girls seem to have bought into and they have worked real hard on ball handling and being able to play that way.

“We have actually been scoring some points but we hang our hat on the defensive end. A lot of times we talk about turning that defense into offense and I feel as we get better at that, we will get better as the year progresses.”

One of the players that Carpenter will be looking to in not only scoring some points this season but also from a leadership role is Madi McClain who returns to the floor this season.

“Madi is a coach on the floor and the things that I have wanted to do, she has been such an asset in relaying that to the girls,” he said. “She has been a big deal for us. She is a really good player but an even better leader.”

The Watauga Valley Conference is going to be loaded from top to bottom this season and Carpenter is hoping that his team can fit somewhere in the top mix by the end of the season.

“The league is really good. We had a play day and played some bigger schools and nobody in our league lost a game so it’s going to be tough,” Carpenter said.

Brandon Carpenter Head Coach

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2021-2022 Hampton Lady Bulldogs # Name 1 Rylie McClain 2 Piper Helle 3 Madison McClain 10 Alyssa Lambert 12 Macy Henry 13 Breanna Davis 23 Lindsay Hardin 24 Linsey Jenkins 30 Ryleigh Nickles 31 Taylor Berry

Position Grade Post Jr. Guard Fr. Guard Jr. Guard Sr. Guard So. Post Jr. Guard So. Post Jr. Guard Jr. Post So.

Head Coach: Brandon Carpenter Assistant Coach: Lindsey Chambers, Carrie Jenkins, Chelsey Weddle, Deani Smith

2021-2022 Hampton Lady Bulldog Schedule November 30 West Greene December 3 Happy Valley 7 Unicoi Co. 10 at Unaka* 14 at South Greene 17 Johnson Co. 20-22 Arby’s Classic at Tennessee High January 4 South Greene 6 at Happy Valley 8 at Chuckey Doak

11 at U-H* 14 North Greene* 21 Cloudland* 24 at Johnson Co. 28 Unaka* February 1 at Unicoi Co. 4 U-H* 7 at North Greene* 11 at Cloudland* 12 Chuckey Doak 15 at West Greene *denotes conference game

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Jeremy Maddox Head Coach

2021-2022 Happy Valley Warriors

Warriors will look for identity early in season

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

H

appy Valley head coach Jeremy Maddox said when looking on paper, there is a conception that the Warriors are returning an experienced. However, the Warrior coach concedes that is only on paper and not the real truth.

The Warriors will have to quickly identify who they are as a team in the early season especially since they are moving into another conference where they actually match up better against the teams they will be battling for conference supremecy.

“Landon Babb is obviously the only player that started for us last year and started some as a sophomore,” said Maddox.

“Colby (Chausse) and James (Murray) are

really the only other two that played I guess what you call significant minutes last year.

Troy (Williams) didn’t play last year but played his freshman and sophomore years and is back with us this year.

“And this will be Blake’s (Garmon) first year as a varsity starter right now. Antonio Martin is another kid that played a little bit last year but right now he has a knee injury and we are just waiting to hear and hopefully he will be back sooner than later because he is a kid that can help us and shoots it pretty well.”

Leadership will be key for success and when Maddox looked up and down his roster, he pointed out three Warriors that will be counted on to bring that to the floor.

“We expect Landon, Colby, and James - we expect those three to be our leaders, Landon especially. For us to be successful,

we need really good minutes out of those three. They are really going to have to produce.”

Happy Valley has always thrived off of pressure defense resulting in turnovers for easy buckets at their end of the court. That might be a challenge this season according to Maddox.

“We feel like we need to play up-tempo but I am not sure that we are skilled enough,” he said. “We want to get as many possessions as we can. We don’t want to put ourselves in a bind.

“We are kind of feeling it out right now.

We do want to try to push and play. We want to create something defensively where we are not having to work and grind in the half court for 32 minutes. I am not sure that we can be successful doing that the entire year.”

Looking at the conference, Maddox sees South Greene heads and shoulders above the rest of the conference that includes the Warriors, Chuckey Doak, West Greene, and Johnson Co. “I think it is kind of a surprise for everybody,” Maddox said about the conference alignment. “We certainly feel like we are better suited to compete in this league than the other league just from a student enrollment.

“We are sitting at probably 480 kids and you were trying to play Sullivan South, Sullivan East, and Unicoi Co. which was closer to a 1,000 students. That will wear on you from a number’s standpoint.

“We feel like we are in much better shape to compete in our league than in year’s past and that is something that we are excited and optimistic about.”

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2021-2022 Happy Valley Warriors # Name Position 12 Colby Chausse Guard 13 Dakota Grindstaff Guard 15 Donavan Maxwell Guard 20 Austin Nickels Guard 21 Antonio Martin Forward 22 Troy Williams Forward 23 James Murray Forward 30 Blake Garmon Post 31 Cole Deakins Forward 32 Landon Babb Post 33 Joey Sowards Post 34 Steven Perry Post

Grade Jr. So. Fr. Fr. Sr. Sr. Jr. Sr. Jr. Sr. So. Jr.

Head Coach: Jeremy Maddox Assistant Coach: Larry Abel, Chris Sparks

2021-2022 Happy Valley Warriors Schedule The 2021-2022 Happy Valley basketball cheerleaders are as follows: (Front L-R) Autumn Henegar and Emma Helbert. (Middle L-R) Gracie Young, Anslie Pinkston, and Bella Garmon. (Back row L-R) Coach Ahlexionna Wright, Izzy Sisneros, Jon Perry, Kaydence Carroll, Coach Brooke Tolley, and Coach Greta Helm.

30 at Unaka

November

December 3 at Hampton 7 at Johnson Co.* 10 Chuckey Doak* 13 Elizabethton 17 at U-H 20 at Cloudland 21 Unicoi Co. 4 Unaka 6 Hampton

January

Cherokee Self Storage

11 at South Greene* 14 West Greene* 17 U-H 18 Cloudland 21 Johnson Co.* 25 at Chuckey Doak* 28 South Greene* February 1 at West Greene* 5 at Elizabethton 11 at Unicoi Co. 15-22 District Tournament TBA *denotes conference game

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Dana Hill Head Coach

2021-2022 Happy Valley Lady Warriors

Lady Warriors in rebuilding phase entering new season

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

D

ana Hill may look more like a carpenter this season than a basketball coach as he will be charged with taking a lot of youth and trying to shape it into a solid basketball team on Warrior Hill by district tournament time.

“Going into the second season, we are still rebuilding,” Hill said of his Lady Warrior program. “Rome wasn’t built in a day.

We are going through a youth movement period. We have a group of freshmen who are coming in and working really hard.

“I have two tremendous leaders in seniors Scarlett Zoeli and Holly Moore who have done a great job in getting us ready.

Kadie Bailey and Reagan Street are going to

play a lot of minutes for us. Marcida Moore and all those kids out here are going to have to contribute because the numbers are not where we want them to be. We are building this program back and we will play with what we have got and that’s all you can do.”

Hill will have to rely on six incoming freshman to help provide minutes this season with only seven upperclassmen returning but that is something that he feels confident about as the freshmen have been working all summer really hard according to Hill.

With such a young team, Hill won’t have the luxury of putting a full package of schemes together for what he might like to accomplish but must work to groom his team around the talent he has and utilize it at the appropriate opportunity.

“Obviously you have to make some

changes with the number of kids that we have. Last year, we picked our spots of pressing and getting after it. We feel like we can do some of that this year. It depends if we can build some depth up later in the year,” said Hill.

“Early, if you check our schedule we are playing some really good teams. We are going to learn to compete first and that’s what we are going to work on in the early season and I think that is what is going to help us compete with our conference schedule.”

With the changes in conferences, the Lady Warriors no longer have to compete with the likes of Elizabethton and Unicoi Co. but that doesn’t mean the road gets any easier.

“South Greene, Happy Valley, Chuckey Doak, West Greene - I would like to think that we could fit in there at number two,”

Hill said of how he sees the conference possibly panning out. “Who knows how this winter and COVID is going to work out. That is something that we have kept from the girls but we need to stay healthy. If we have starters out it’s going to really hurt. God’s will be done is all I can say about that.

“I am excited for these girls. They love playing together.”

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2021-2022 Happy Valley Lady Warriors 2021-2022 Happy Valley Lady Warrior Schedule # Name 00 Reagan Street 10 Holly Moore 11 Natalie Cline 12 Juley Nieminski 15 Jocie Zoeli 21 Kaydence Carroll 22 Cayden Anderson 23 Marcida Moore 25 Adrianna Harageones 30 Gracie Younce 32 Lily Forbes 40 Kadie Bailey 44 Scarlett Zoeli

Position Post Guard Post Guard Guard Post Guard Guard Guard Guard Post Guard Guard

Grade Sr. Sr. Fr. So. Fr. Fr. Fr. So. Jr. Fr. Fr. Jr. Sr.

Head Coach: Dana Hill Assistant Coach: Cara Bowling, Rik Anderson

30 at Unaka

November December

3 at Hampton 7 at Johnson Co.* 10 Chuckey Doak* 13 Elizabethton 17 at U-H 20 at Cloudland 21 Unicoi Co. 4 Unaka 6 Hampton

January

11 at South Greene* 14 West Greene* 17 U-H 18 Cloudland 21 Johnson Co.* 25 at Chuckey Doak* 28 South Greene* February 1 at West Greene* 5 at Elizabethton 11 at Unicoi Co. 15-22 District Tournament TBA *denotes conference game

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Aaron Dugger Head Coach

2021-2022 Unaka Rangers Schedule

2021-2022 Unaka Rangers

Rangers have potential to be league contender

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

T

he Unaka Rangers realize that the Watauga Valley Conference is going to be filled with good teams this season but they also don’t want those teams to forget that the Rangers are hungry and have an experienced team that wants to make a lot of noise in the 2021-2022 season.

Coach Aaron Dugger is anxious to see how his team will respond and how much they have grown up since last year’s campaign as his team has seen a lot of action together.

“I think that we have a chance to be competitive in the league,” said Dugger. “It’s always a tough league but a lot of these guys have played since they were freshman and we are all getting older and that’s a good thing. We are looking forward to some of our veterans coming back.

“We have some size we can go with in our post. In the past, we haven’t played as many kids because we didn’t feel that we were able to but we are looking at playing eight or nine kids and that is going to be important for us. Even though we have a socalled set starting five, some of those bench players may play more than those starting five depending on how it goes.”

Dugger was asked to talk about a couple of his players and his expectations for them this season.

“Ryan (Sexton) had a great summer for us. He will play a lot of minutes whether starting or coming off the bench. He will do what I ask him to do but there will be nights he starts and nights he comes off the bench but he is going to play every night and play a lot of minutes,” Dugger said.

“Joseph (Slagle) can definitely shoot the basketball. I think he averaged around 15 points last year and led Northeast Tennessee in three’s made last year but his big thing is

he has to be more than just a shooter. He has to take the ball to the basket and put the ball on the floor and he is capable of that. He just really hasn’t had to because of guards who could get the ball to him. This year, I look for him to be more aggressive and not just a spot-up shooter but a kid that can go to the basket.”

The Ranger skipper feels this team has an upside of potential and could very well be the best team offensively that he has had as a head coach at the school.

That comes in part to being able to finally have a couple of true post players, an asset Dugger hasn’t had in the past.

Dugger said that he sees Hampton as the top-seed in the conference and the rest of the teams could fill in spots from second on down.

“I think our league might have more parity in it from second place down. We have a lot of stuff as a program to play for and that’s the way you have to look at it.”

November 30 Happy Valley December 3 at Johnson Co. 4 Jellico 10 Hampton* 13 at South Greene 16 at West Greene 20 Chuckey Doak 28-29 Harriman Christmas Tournament January 4 at Happy Valley 7 at U-H* 11 Cloudland* 14 at Chuckey Doak 17 West Greene 20 at North Greene* 25 Johnson Co. 28 at Hampton* February 1 U-H* 4 at Cloudland* 8 South Greene 11 North Greene 12 at Jellico *Denotes conference games

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2021-2022 Unaka Rangers # Name Class 2 Joseph Slagle Sr. 4 Mason Wilson Fr. 5 Brynin Repass Fr. 12 Gavin Seigfried Sr. 15 Devin Ramsey Sr. 20 Ryan Sexton Jr. 22 Kaiden Benway So. 25 Brady Taylor Jr. 35 Joe-Z Blamo Sr. 42 Landon Ramsey Jr. 45 Marcus Shomaker So. 55 Brayden Powell So. Head Coach: Aaron Dugger Assistant Coach: Aaron Cross, Noah Rosenbalm Manager: Korbin Hale, Caleb Hamm, Casey Wiggins, Matthew Wilson The 2021-2022 Unaka Ranger basketball cheerleaders are as follows: (Front L-R) Kylee McCall and Madison Maryland. (Middle L-R) Emma Davis, Jordan Pippin, and Celeste Wilson. (Back L-R) Rachel Lloyd, Annie Townsend, and Makayla Bunten.

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Kenneth Chambers Head Coach

2021-2022 Unaka Lady Rangers

Lady Rangers to rely on strength of returning starters in new campaign

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

I

n a year where the Watauga Valley Conference has one of the strongest top four teams around in Cloudland, Hampton, North Greene, and Unaka, the Lady Rangers feel they will be just a step ahead with all five of their returning starters back and ready to take the court in a new season.

Coach Kenneth Chambers also is blessed to have one of the top players in the state on his side in Lyndie Ramsey who is a two-time all-state selection having already scored over 1,200 points in her career as a Lady Ranger.

“We have got some experience back,” said Chambers. “We have all of our starters back from last year. We have seniors in Julie Simerly, Macy Ensor, and KIki Forney to provide leadership. We have another senior but she has been sick but we should have her back soon.

“Then you have Lyndie Ramsey and Mailey Guy that have started for two years now so we have experience but are lacking in some depth. We have some young kids coming up in Haley Taylor, Abby Slemp, and some freshmen that will have to see some time. Callie Hardin and Alisha Harrell will probably see extensive playing time as well.”

Currently the team is down a couple of players due to sickness and injury that see a lot of playing time for Chambers.

And while Unaka may not be the tallest team around, they have one plus in the players know how to play.

“We don’t have great size but they know what to do and play hard,” Chambers said.

“They are good kids. I think the conference is going to be rough. Everybody in the conference is going to be good. I think that we have a good chance.

“The key is to stay healthy and keep everybody healthy. If that happens, I think we will have a good shot. I believe the top four

teams in our conference are the top four in the region. The sub-state will come through two of our teams.”

Chambers also is excited to see Ramsey in her junior year as she has become a wellrounded player during the off-season which will make it that much more difficult for teams that play the Lady Rangers.

“That’s the big difference from last year to this year is the other girls have improved a lot over the summer. You can’t just rely on Lyndie because if I play against Lyndie last year, I would have put three people on her.

Now, if you do that we have other girls that can score because they are good shooters and capable of scoring. That takes the pressure off her too,” Chambers said.

“Lyndie has to let the game come to her.

Her game has improved in rebounding and defense and because of that I believe she is a better all-around ball player.”

The Unaka head coach also said that his plan is to not be tournament ready right off

the bat but to take each of the early-season games and improve on any weakness before the tournament kicks off.

“We are not trying to push it right now.

We are not trying to be tournament ready right now because we have a lot to work on.

When we get through the tough schedule during the early part of the season and see what we need to work on, we will be pretty good come tournament time,” Chambers said.

PAGE 20 SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27-28, 2021

Good Luck Rangers!

WWW.ELIZABETHTON.COM

2021-2022 Unaka Lady Rangers # Name 1 Julie Simerly 10 Lyndie Ramsey 11 Tara Whitehead 12 Haley Taylor 14 Callie Hardin 20 Alisha Harrell 21 Kiki Forney 23 Macy Ensor 33 Julie Tolley 40 Abby Slemp 42 Mailey Guy 44 Emma Taylor

Class Sr. Jr. Sr. So. Fr. So. Sr. Sr. So. Jr. Jr. Fr.

Head Coach: Kenneth Chambers Assistant Coach: John Ramsey, Mike Lunsford, Dawn Lowe.

Manager: Grace Agan

2021-2022 Unaka Lady Ranger Schedule

November 30 Happy Valley

December 3 at Johnson Co. 4 Jellico 10 Hampton* 13 at South Greene 17 at West Greene 20 Chuckey Doak 28-29 Harriman Christmas Tournament January 4 at Happy Valley 7 at U-H*

11 Cloudland* 14 at Chuckey Doak 17 West Greene 20 at North Greene* 25 Johnson Co. 28 at Hampton*

February 1 U-H* 4 at Cloudland* 8 South Greene 11 North Greene 12 at Jellico

*denotes conference game

SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27-28, 2021 PAGE 21

WWW.ELIZABETHTON.COM

Spencer Nave Head Coach

2021-2022 Cloudland Highlanders

Cloudland has solid nucleus for new head coach

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

S

pencer Nave traded in his maroon and white of Unaka during the offseason and now will be donning the Cloudland blue and gold as the new head coach of the Cloudland boys basketball team.

Nave quickly discovered that the cupboard is pretty well stocked when he stepped into the role including a team filled with players of pretty good stature.

“We have great size and you can’t teach size,” said Nave. “I think one of the big things is if you can rebound the basketball, make free throws, and defend - you are going to be in a lot of ballgames just by that.

With the personnel we have, I think there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able do that.”

With 10 seniors on the roster, the High-

landers sport players such as Victor Hicks (6’5 forward), Caleb Sluder (6’2 guard), Dylan Shell (6’2 guard), Dont’e Williams (6’2 guard), Jacob Isaacs (6’3 forward), and Coy Laney (6’3 forward).

Add into the mix junior Gage McKinney (6’3 forward), junior Jacob Street (6’4 forward), and sophomore Dylan McClellan (6’3 forward), one can quickly see why Nave is excited about his first team as a head coach.

However, Nave hasn’t forgotten about the conference he has become quite familiar with.

“The league is tough,” Nave said.

“I have said that for years. I have been coaching for five years and I have helped Aaron (Dugger) for the last four and I have been in this league and know that it’s a gauntlet.

“I would put it up against any confer-

ence in the area. There are no cakewalks.

You have to bring your A-game every day.

One thing that is going to help us is I am more a dribble-drive guy, four out and one in. Aaron and I have went up to Virginia in the past and I have learned a lot from Coach Tony Bennett doing the pack-line defense and I am going to stay with that mindset and run the dribble drive and try to get everybody involved.

“I would rather have five kids averaging 10 points a game or 15 than to have two that are scoring 30 any day,” continued Nave.

“With our depth we can be really good and play a lot of kids and it holds these kids accountable.”

One thing that Nave was quick to point out was the grit that his team of Highland-

ers have and if he can keep them in that same mindset, the sky is the limit for this group.

“I have tough kids,” said Nave. “That’s one thing I can say that I love about Roan Mountain is that you have tough kids. They are going to come and grind every day.

Keeping them to stay the course and face adversity when things don’t go their way, I think that’s a big thing.

“If you can face adversity like being down in a game and not hanging your head - I think having tough kids is going to help us do that. Having them go throughout this season and just grind every single day and come to work every day, I think that is what we are going to do.”

Nave said the key to winning in the Watauga Valley Conference is doing your homework and having your team ready for anything that other teams may throw your way.

PAGE 22 SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27-28, 2021

WWW.ELIZABETHTON.COM

2021-2022 Cloudland Highlanders

The 2021-2022 Cloudland High School basketball cheerleaders are as follows: (Front (L-R) Karah Fields, Kaiden Smith, Hannah Hart, Carter Shaw, and Libbie Tomberlin. (Middle L-R) Hailey Simerly, Katelynn Simerly, LilyAnna Johnson, Mia Clarke, Kendall Birchfield, Melena Roberson, and Katie Baldwin. (Back L-R) Faith Roark, April Stone, Tate Shaw, MacKenzie Maro, Shana Canady, and Ella Benfield.

# Name Height Position Grade 1 Victor Hicks 6’5 Forward Sr. 3 Caleb Sluder 6’2 Guard Sr. 4 Dylan Shell 6’2 Guard Sr. 5 Caden Clarke 6’0 Guard Jr. 10 Skyler Hamby 5’11 Guard Sr. 14 Seth Birchfield 5’10 Guard Sr. 15 Dont’e Williams 6’2 Guard Sr. 21 Gage McKinney 6’3 Forward Jr. 22 Noah Barnett 5’10 Guard Sr. 23 Jacob Isaacs 6’3 Forward Sr. 24 Eli Benfield 5’10 Guard Sr. 25 Coy Laney 6’3 Forward Sr. 32 Jacob Street 6’4 Forward Jr. 50 Dylan McClellan 6’3 Forward So. Head Coach: Spencer Nave Assistant Coach: Travis Sommers, Travis Whitehead Stats: Zak Benfield

2021-2022 Cloudland Highlander Schedule November 22-27 Hardee’s Classic at Crockett 30 Volunteer December 2 at Unicoi Co. 10 at Johnson Co. 17 Twin Springs 20 Happy Valley 28-29 at Harriman January

3 Unicoi 4 Kachea 7 North Greene* 11 at Unaka*

14 U.H.* 17 Johnson Co. 18 at Happy Valley 21 at Hampton* 24 at Twin Springs 25 at Avery February 1 at North Greene* 4 Unaka* 8 at U.H.* 11 Hampton* 17 District Tournament TBA 25 Regional Tournament TBA

*denotes conference game

Good Luck Highlanders!

SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27-28, 2021 PAGE 23

WWW.ELIZABETHTON.COM

Matt Birchfield Head Coach

2021-2022 Cloudland Lady Highlanders

Lady ‘Landers look to take advantage of size factor

BY IVAN SANDERS STAR SPORTS EDITOR ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com

W

henever a player steps on the court for Coach Matt Birchfield’s Lady Highlanders, there are high expectations that player will be contributing from the get-go and growing up quickly as the Lady Highlanders have one goal in mind and that is reaching the state championship in Murfreesboro year in and year out.

This year will be no different after Birchfield lost six seniors to graduation that brought scoring and a lot of floor time to the program.

“We are hoping for another good season,” said Birchfield. “We did lose a big senior class of six seniors but we are going to be led by two good ones in Karah Fields

and Taylor Hicks.

“We are hoping for some good play that we got to play last year from sophomore Saharra McKinney and junior Ella Benfield, so we are hoping for good things from them.”

Birchfield does have one thing in this year’s squad that he hasn’t been accustomed to and that is girls with some height. That will force the head coach to make some changes in how he runs his offense and defense.

“We will have to change a little bit,” Birchfield said. “We are going to have a little bit more size than we normally have and we haven’t been used to that. We have to find a way to score. We lost some scoring from last year having lost several kids. If we can find that, I think we will be okay.”

After opening the season at Sullivan East against some very strong competi-

tion, Birchfield is hoping that his team will quickly mature as they will have their hands cut out in the conference and look down the road to the district and regional tournament.

“Our ultimate goal is always to win the conference and take one game at a time and get down the road but our league is so good and so well coached,” Birchfield said.

“North Greene went to the state tournament with a lot of kids returning, Unaka has everybody returning and really strong, and Hampton has a new coaching staff and I look for them to be really good.

“Our conference is going to be really good. Night in and night out, you had better be ready to play and take care of the home court because on the road could be tough in our conference.”

Birchfield was asked what the keys to his

team’s success would be in the 2021-2022 season.

“I feel like it is scoring and replacing the scoring that we had. We need to find the kids that can score consistently for us after losing our seniors and secondly would be the youth growing up quickly. We need to mature quickly.”

PAGE 24 SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27-28, 2021

2021-2022 Cloudland Lady Highlanders # Name Height Position Grade 3 Taylor Hicks 5’8 Guard Sr. 4 MaKenzie Street 5’2 Guard Fr. 10 Kendall Birchfield 5’5 Guard Jr. 11 Ella Benfield 5’9 Guard Jr. 12 Katie Baldwin 5’5 Guard Jr. 14 Layken Blair 5’5 Guard Jr. 20 Bethany Sluder 5’2 Guard So. 22 Saharra McKinney 5’9 Guard So. 23 Ryan Turbyfill 5’5 Guard So. 32 Izabella Christman 5’9 Post So. 42 Karah Fields 5’8 Post Sr. Head Coach: Matt Birchfield Assistant Coach: Shellie McKinney, Kelly Stout Book Keeper: Toni Arnold Stats: Tim Freeman

WWW.ELIZABETHTON.COM

2021-2022 Cloudland Highlander Schedule 30 Volunteer

November December

2 at Unicoi Co. 7 Volunteer 10 at Johnson Co. 17 Twin Springs 20 Happy Valley 28-29 at Harriman 3 Unicoi 7 North Greene* 11 at Unaka* 14 U.H.*

January

17 Johnson Co. 18 at Happy Valley 21 at Hampton* 24 at Twin Springs 25 at Avery February 1 at North Greene* 4 Unaka* 8 at U.H.* 11 Hampton* 17 District Tournament TBA 25 Regional Tournament TBA

*denotes conference game

SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27-28, 2021 PAGE 25

WWW.ELIZABETHTON.COM

2021-2022 Johnson County Longhorn Schedule November 30 at West Ridge December 3 Unaka 7 Happy Valley 9 at Holston, VA 10 Cloudland 14 at Elizabethton 17 at Hampton 21 at Providence Academy January 4 Elizabethton 7 at K.A.C.H.E.A 11 at Chuckey Doak* 14 South Greene* 17 at Cloudland 18 at West Greene* 21 at Happy Valley* 24 Hampton 25 at Unaka 28 Chuckey Doak* February 1 at South Greene* 3 West Ridge 4 West Greene* 15-22 District Tournament

2021-2022 Johnson County Longhorns

*Denotes conference games

Longhorns set lofty goals for new basketball season FROM STAFF REPORTS

A

move to a different conference set-up may be exactly what Coach Austin Atwood’s Johnson County Longhorn team needed as the Longhorns don’t have to worry about the likes of Elizabethton, Sullivan East, Volunteer, Tennessee High, and Unicoi Co. Instead, the ‘Horns see a path that might allow them to go deeper in post season play as they will now have to contend with South Greene, West Greene, Chuckey Doak, and Happy Valley even though it has extended their travel distances.

Atwood, for one, is ready to get rolling and see exactly what this group of ‘Horns can do.

“These guys have speed,” Atwood said. “They work well together and depend on each other to be able to help each other out. It’s going to be a good year.”

Atwood will be counting on one particular player to set

the tone for the rest of the team.

Preston Greer is one of two seniors on the team who has great ball handling skills, and a knack for pushing the basketball down the court quickly to get into the Longhorns offense. Zack Parsons is the other senior.

“We plan on doing some great things out there with a better season.” Greer said. “If we keep working hard, we can win.”

Atwood is counting on Greer to make thing happen.

“He can do the job if he wants to,” Atwood said. “We need him to perform at his top level. If he does, the numbers will be there for us.”

Parsons also has set lofty expectations for the new season not only for his team but his self as well. The Longhorn player is smart and a fighter inside the paint who believes that new accomplishments are on the horizon for his team.

“I have set the bar pretty high for myself and the team,” he said. “Hopefully, we can get in there and get some wins.”

If plans come together in Mountain City the way Atwood and his seniors foresee, this could be a year to remember for Longhorn basketball.

PAGE 26 SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27-28, 2021

Good Luck to ALL TEAMS!

WWW.ELIZABETHTON.COM

2021-2022 Johnson Co. Longhorns # Name Grade 3 Connor Pierce Jr. 5 Austin West Jr. 10 Peyton Pavusek Jr. 11 Skylar Lawson Jr. 15 Caleb Pierce Jr. 20 Dalton Robinson Jr. 22 Preston Greer Sr. 30 Zack Parsons Sr. 34 Graham Reece Jr. 35 Connor Simcox So. 41 Dalton Osborne Jr. Head Coach: Austin Atwood Assistant Coach: David Arnold

SATURDAY-SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27-28, 20211 PAGE 27

WWW.ELIZABETHTON.COM

2021-2022 Johnson County Lady Longhorns # Name Grade 4 Peyton Gentry Jr. 5 Aubree Glenn So. 10 Emmy Walker So. 11 Sierra Green So. 20 Sara Icenhour So. 22 Brookanna Hutchins Jr. 23 Marissa Summerow Jr. 24 Harley Wykle So. 25 Aubrie Baird Jr. 30 Makenzie Kelly So. 34 Desirae Robinson Fr. Head Coach: Kechia Eller Assistant Coach: Marcus Dunham, Eric Crabtree Trainer: Tony and Phyllis Griffith Stat Keeper: James Bowers

2021-2022 Johnson County Lady Longhorns

Lady Longhorns ready to tip off season under new coach

FROM STAFF REPORTS

T

he Johnson County Lady Longhorns will have a new look this season as former head coach Leon Tolley has moved back to his roots in Carter County and Kechia Eller steps in to take over the reins of the program.

Eller won’t have the luxury of having any senior leadership as she will be relying on four juniors who are ready to move forward to help the basketball team as they will be in a new conference setup this season with Happy Valley, South Greene, West Greene, and Chuckey Doak.

According to Eller, her team has, “been showing up and giving a lot of intensity at practice, they aren’t just going through the motions, they are giving me their best

effort and as a coach that is all you can ask for.”

The Lady ‘Horns open up the 20212022 season with a pretty tough slate but junior Brookanna Hutchins said that she and her fellow juniors are ready for lies ahead saying, “We juniors are ready to take on the leadership roles and carry this team pretty far.”

Peyton Gentry echoed Hutchins saying, “we are ready to show everyone what we can do, we are united, and we are positive about this year.”

Playing a tougher schedule earlier in the season is something that Eller looks at as a positive to help her team learn from those games win or lose saying, ““as long as we can pick the positives and work on certain things, we will be

ready for the conference games.”

Tolley admits that she learned a lot about coaching the game from Tolley during his tenure but also looks to another famous head coach for inspiration as well.

“Former Tennessee Lady Vol head coach Pat Summit said, ‘girls have to feel good about themselves to play well’ my aim is to emphasize this with my girls - they have to mentally be there to play basketball,” said Eller.

The team has adopted a new motto heading into the season, “Never give anything away easily”. If the Lady Longhorns keep this at the forefront of their season, it is sure to be a product, successful season for the Johnson County Lady ‘Horns.

2021-2022 Johnson Co. Lady Longhorns Schedule November 30 at West Ridge December 3 Unaka 7 Happy Valley 9 at Holston, VA 10 Cloudland 14 at Elizabethton 17 at Hampton 21 at Providence Academy January 4 Elizabethton 11 at Chuckey Doak* 14 South Greene*

17 at Cloudland 18 at West Greene* 21 at Happy Valley* 24 Hampton 25 at Unaka 28 Chuckey Doak* February 1 at South Greene* 3 West Ridge 4 West Greene* 15-22 District Tournament •denotes conference games