The Cherokee Lady Braves (21-3) more than tripled Swain’s score with a big opening round win in the Smoky Mountain Conference Tournament at Andrews on Friday, Feb. 13. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
ONE FEATHER STAFF
ANDREWS – The Cherokee Lady Braves (21-3) more than tripled Swain’s score with a big opening round win in the Smoky Mountain Conference Tournament at Andrews on Friday, Feb. 13. Kendall Toineeta, Lady Braves senior point guard, led Cherokee with 20 points as the Lady Braves won 68-21.
“We were working on some things in the first half and got out to a nice, little lead,” said Lady Braves head coach Chris Mintz. “In the third quarter, we decided we were going to play basketball and just turned it on.”
The Lady Braves totally shut down Swain in the third quarter, literally, as Cherokee outscored the Lady Maroon Devils 27-0. “We finally got to a halftime without getting into foul trouble so it was nice to actually be able to turn up the pressure a little bit.”
Cherokee started out on fire in this game and Toineeta scored the first six points of the game to give Cherokee an early 6-0 lead just two minutes in. Cherokee kept the pressure up and led 20-7 after the first.
The Lady Braves went on a 9-2 run in the first three minutes of the second quarter and led 29-9 at the 4:47 mark. Cherokee played good defense in the first half and had a total of 13 steals in the first two quarters. The Lady Braves took a 33-17 lead into the locker room.
The third quarter was all Cherokee as they played tight defense shutting down virtually all of Swain’s passing lanes. Kaycee Lossiah, Lady Braves forward, hit a shot at the 2:56 mark to put Cherokee up by 40 points (57-17) thereby invoking the NCHSAA mercy rule, and the clock ran continuously for the remainder of the game.
Cherokee continued to play stifling defense in the fourth quarter, and Swain made their first basket of the half with 3:33 left in the contest. The Lady Braves went on to take the big 68-21 win.
Other Cherokee scorers included: LeLe Lossiah 11, Kaycee Lossiah 8, Shelby Wolfe 5, Reagan Barnard 8, Tiffani Riggen 3, Kyleigh Wiggins 4 and Timiyah Brown 7.
Swain scorers included: Lynsey Hicks 4, Gabby Jones 8, Annee Hyatt 2, Taylor Medlin 3 and Lydia Sale 4.
To view or purchase photos from this game, visit: https://onefeather.smugmug.com/SPORTS/BASKETBALL/LADY-BRAVES-BASKETBALL-201415/Vs-Swain-1st-round-SMC/
