The Cherokee Lady Braves (11-1) came in second place in the Holidays on the Hardwood Tournament hosted at Cherokee High School on Dec. 27-29. After two impressive wins over Owen and Erwin, Cherokee faced South Forsyth from Cumming, Ga. in the final.
The Lady Braves fell behind in the first half and trailed 45-28 at halftime. But, they came back in the third period outscoring South Forsyth 17-11 to trail 56-45 going into the final period. Cherokee outscored South Forsyth again in the fourth period 15-10, but it wasn’t enough as South Forsyth took the 66-60 win and the tournament championship.
Cherokee’s Avery Mintz and Kendall Toineeta were named to the All-Tournament team.
In their first two games, Cherokee defeated Owen 62-38 and Erwin 79-63.
Mintz and Toineeta led the Lady Braves with 51 points each in the tournament. Other Lady Braves scorers in the tournament included: Le Le Lossiah 7, Kaycee Lossiah 4, Alexis Maney 31, Miranda Smith 2, Bree Stamper 21, Jordyn Thompson 22, Angel Squirrel 6 and Deija Burgess 6.
The Braves (7-4) did not fare as well in the tournament losing both games they played. They lost 69-59 to Owen on the first night and 55-39 to Chattanooga (Tenn.) in their consolation game.
Seth Littlejohn led Cherokee with 36 points in the tournament followed by Dustin Johnson with 21. Other Braves scorers in the tournament included: Raven Frankiewicz 15, Eli Littlejohn 7, Silas Reed-Littlejohn 2, Kennan Panther 4, Stephen Swan 2 and Jesse Toineeta 12.
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