Walker Valley’s eyes light up when tournament time rolls around.
Why?
Tournament time is Mustang time.
Fourth-seed Walker Valley tuned up for the District 5-3A basketball tournament by winning final four games and carried that momentum into Friday’s quarterfinal game against No. 5 McMinn County.
The Cherokees fought an uphill battle all night and fell hard to the Mustangs 66-30. Along with the impressive victory, Walker Valley (16-10) earned a spot in the semifinals and they face top-seed Cleveland on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Walker Valley is trying to win its second straight district tournament title and fourth in five years.
“I wish I knew how it keeps happening,” veteran Mustangs coach Bob Williams said. “Every team is different, but a lot of these guys are back from last year when we won the district and region tournaments, the sectional and went to state. The guys are in a good rhythm now and I think every coach wants his team to peak in February.”
In the night’s first game, fourth-seeded McMinn County used a 23-point fourth quarter to knock off No. 5 Cleveland 59-41 and reach the girls’ semifinals. The Lady Cherokees (19-9) will tangle with top-seed and undefeated Bradley Central (27-0) on Saturday at 3 p.m.
(The complete semifinal schedule is listed below.)
In addition to the blow-out win, Walker Valley’s Bryce Nunnelly cracked the 1,000-point career mark with his 10th point in the third quarter.
“I needed 10 points and got 10 points,” said Nunnelly, a senior about to wrap up his final basketball season with the Mustangs. “I’m happy.”
When Nunnelly went to the bench, the Mustangs had a 51-22 advantage. He was the last starter off the floor before reserves closed out the final nine minutes.
“That’s awesome,” Williams said of Nunnelly’s scoring milestone. “He played a lot after Christmas his freshman season, was hurt in his sophomore and missed eight or nine games and he’s a three-year starter for us. He goes all out all the time.”
Nunnelly had eight points at halftime and the Mustangs were already in full-blown rout mode, taking a 37-17 lead to the locker room. Walker Valley’s third-quarter advantage was 58-24 and the final five minutes were played with the TSSAA “mercy rule” running clock.
Cooper Melton led the Mustangs with 14 points and Zeke Westfield had 10.
“We came out tonight with the same intensity we had against East Hamilton in our last game (Feb. 10),” Williams said. “We were all over the place on defense against East Hamilton and we played good defense against McMinn tonight. You worry about layoffs, but we had some good practices, practiced hard and came out ready to play.”
One thing the Mustangs didn’t do was take the Cherokees lightly. In two regular season games, Walker Valley won both by a combined 13 points.
“We were well-rested for tonight’s game and came out fired up and ready to go,” Nunnelly said.
The Cherokees were down 23-8 after the first quarter.
Williams became the Mustangs’ coach prior to the 2004-05 season and had success in Class 2A, before moving up to Class 3A. His best season (34-2) was 2008-09 when the Mustangs won the district and region tournament titles, the sectional and lost to Raleigh-Egypt in the state semifinals.
The Mustangs repeated that title season last year and eventually lost to Cordova in the state quarterfinals. They finished 23-10.
Taurean Jones led McMinn County (15-13) with eight points.
McMinn County girls 59, Cleveland 41: The Lady Cherokees built a 25-14 halftime lead and maintained the 11-point lead going into the fourth quarter.
“This was one of those games where we just could not shake them,” McMinn County coach Tim McPhail said. “They made a couple of runs and we were able to answer them. Our girls gave a really good effort and did a really nice job on the boards.
“But won and advanced. That’s how you get it done at this point in the season.”
Cleveland (11-15) scored the first six points in the final period and closed to within 25-20. McMinn County came right back to score seven of the next eight points and again led by 11 at 32-21.
The Lady Blue Raiders got a bucket by Emma Flowers and a 3-pointer by Emily Colbaugh and were down 32-26. McMinn County scored on back-to-back layups from Jada Harper and Jayden Schiestel for a 36-26 advantage.
The Lady Cherokees were up 41-33 in the fourth period when they reeled off seven straight points to open a commanding 48-33 lead, essentially sealing the victory.
In that spree, all-district Kaitlyn Hennessee scored on a put-back. Whitney Green was fouled, but before she hit one of two free throws, Cleveland coach Tony Williams was slapped with a technical foul. Carlee Gleaton dropped in both free throws from the technical and the Lady Cherokees maintained control of the ball.
Gleaton made a put-back and that capped a five-point possession and delivered the knockout punch.
“I was never really comfortable with our lead until that little stretch right there,” Lady Cherokees coach Tim McPhail said.
Hennessee led the Lady Cherokees with 13 points, Green scored 12 and Hannah Burns and Gleaton each added 10 points.
Flowers and Sofia Stamatiadis each scored 10 points for Cleveland.
“McMinn started off hot as a firecracker and hit six of their first seven shots,” Cleveland coach Tony Williams said. “We were battling uphill the rest of the game. We have to tip our hats to them. They were the better team tonight.”
LINESCORES
Boys Game
McMinn County 8 9 7 6 – 30
Walker Valley 23 14 21 8 – 66
McMinn County (30) – Byas 5, Mays, Smith 2, Hammonds, Eaton, Wilson 3, Runyan, C. Johnson, Moss 3, Elkins, G. Johnson 2, Brown, Taurean Jones 8, Lawson 2, Corbett 5.
Walker Valley (66) – Munck, Zeke Westfield 10, K. Gibson 5, Zakkas 3, Cooper Melton 14, Duke 7, Johnson, Eslinger 4, Murphy 6, Wallace, Bunton 2, Bryce Nunnelly 10, B. Gibson 4.
3-Point Goals – McMinn County 1 (Byas), Walker Valley 2 (Zakkas 1, Duke 1).
Girls Game
Cleveland 8 6 13 14 – 41
McMinn County 17 8 11 23 -- 59
Cleveland (41) – Reed 7, Renshaw, Colbaugh 3, Dasher, Franklin, Lee, Sofia Stamatiadis 10, Goodman, Barton, Emma Flowers 10, Rouse, Callahan, Rue 5, Anderson 6.
McMinn County (59) – Harper 4, Liner 6, Hannah Burns 10, Kaitlyn Hennessee 13, Whitney Green 12, Manney 2, Schiestel 2, Carlee. Gleaton 10.
3-Point Goals – Cleveland 1 (Colbaugh), McMinn County 5 (Burns 2, Green 2, Hennessee).
Saturday’s Schedule
Semifinals
McMinn County girls vs. Bradley Central, 3 p.m.
Walker Valley boys vs. Cleveland, 4:30 p.m.
Walker Valley girls vs. East Hamilton, 6 p.m.
Bradley Central boys vs. East Hamilton, 7:30 p.m.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)