Cherokee’s Kendall Toineeta (#3), Lady Braves senior point guard, plays tough defense against Swain’s Taylor Medlin (#23) during a home game on Tuesday, Dec. 23. Toineeta led the Lady Braves with 22 points and nine steals as Cherokee shut down the Lady Maroon Devils 59-15. At one point in the second period, Cherokee led 39-0. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
ONE FEATHER STAFF
The Lady Braves (8-0) played stifling defense in their eighth win of the season. Cherokee won 59-15 over the Swain Lady Maroon Devils at home on Tuesday, Dec. 23.
“I think, in the first half, we played about as good defensively as we could have played,” said Chris Mintz, Lady Braves head coach. “That made it easy for us on offense as we got a bunch of steals. They had 36 turnovers in the first half so we did what we needed to do.”
In all, Cherokee forced 43 turnovers in the game including nine steals by Kendall Toineeta, Lady Braves senior point guard, who leads all of western North Carolina in the category.
Timiyah Brown, Lady Braves freshman power forward, lines up for a free throw during Tuesday’s game. She scored eight points on the night.
Cherokee squelched Swain’s offense from the get-go and held the Lady Maroon Devils scoreless in the first period which ended 23-0. In fact, Swain did not score their first bucket until the 2:28 mark of the second period. Cherokee took a commanding 41-4 lead into the locker room for halftime.
Due to the huge lead, the clock was run continuously during the entire second half, and Cherokee was able to get a lot of bench play in this contest.
Swain actually outscored Cherokee 8-7 in the third period, but the Lady Braves outscored them 11-3 in the final period to take the big 59-15 win.
Toineeta led Cherokee with 22 points followed by LeLe Lossiah with 10 and Timiyah Brown with 8. Other Lady Braves scorers included: Macie Welch 3, Kaycee Lossiah 2, Bree Stamper 7, Shelby Wolfe 2, Brianna Jumper 2 and Tiffani Riggen 3.
Swain scorers included: Adrianna Kaylor 2, Karie Jones 2, Gabby Lane 2, Gabby Jones 4, Lydia Sale 3 and Taylor Shuler 2.
To view and purchase photos from this game, visit https://onefeather.smugmug.com/SPORTS/BASKETBALL/LADY-BRAVES-BASKETBALL-201415/Vs-Swain-December-23/
