CLEVELAND -- After losing back-to-back to back basketball games, the Walker Valley Mustangs rebounded in a big way Friday inside “The Stable” with a 61-47 win over the visiting Rhea County Golden Eagles.
Free throws proved to be the Achille's Heel for the Lady Mustangs as the Walker Valley girls fell 58-49 in the night's varsity opener.
Cash Coates piled in 13 second half points to add to his eight first-half total to finish with 21 as the Mustangs (7-4, 1-2 District 5-4A) rolled to a 14-point win over the Golden Eagles. Hobert Brabson had a big night scoring 14 points for the Mustangs. Caleb Sausville gave Walker Valley early momentum with three 3-pointers in the first quarter and ended with four treys and a total of 14 points.
“We needed to get back on track tonight after losing back-to-back games. We needed to win another one to kind of feel good,” said Mustangs coach Will Campbell. “That's a good basketball team, Rhea County, they've got some athletes. No. 13 (Brice Dupree) is a great player, he's tough to guard. I thought Caleb (Sausville) and Brett (Campbell) did a really good job on him. I thought we did a pretty good job on No. 12 (Caleb Martin) for them.
Caleb Martin paced the Eagles with 16 points.
“Overall, I thought we played a pretty good game. A home district game, you've got to get a win and get back in the win column. That will make the weekend a little better.”
Sausville's back-to-back-to-back 3s were the story of the first quarter. Sausville hit from the right corner, right wing and the top of the key to help the Mustangs to an 11-0 lead after the first eight minutes. He completed his tour of the court from the left corner with just under four minutes left in the first half with a trey that broke a 14-14 tie. Cash Coates lifted in a 3 with 44 seconds left in the half to give the Mustangs a 27-16 lead. Walker Valley headed to the locker room with a 29-17 advantage.
Coming back after the half, the Mustangs and Eagles battled to a 17-17 draw as Walker Valley headed into the final frame with a 46-34 lead. Graham Campbell hit fro distance for the Mustangs while.
The Mustangs led by 18 points two minutes into the quarter. The Eagles closed out the period with a run to make it 46-34 at the buzzer.
An Alley Oop to the rim from Sausville to Broadnax opened the fourth quarter for the Mustangs. Coates added a 3 two minutes later to spark a 7-0 run that made it a 55-39 game. Coates closed out the scoring for Walker Valley with six straight points to seal the 61-47 final.
“We were trying to focus a lot on ourselves tonight, not that Rhea County isn't a good team, we were prepared,” said Campbell. “We wanted to play the way we wanted to play. The last couple of games we let the other teams sort of speed us up so we really talked a lot about staying withing ourselves and the game plan. I thought we did a good job of that tonight, staying calm, staying patient. I was real happy with that. I think it's something we can build on going forward for sure.”
Rhea Co. girls 58, Walker Valley 49: Free throws. In the end, it was free throws that cost the Lady Mustangs against the Lady Eagles in a District 5-4A loss head coach Drew Lyness felt his team should have won.
Walker Valley made good on just 4 of 13 tosses from the line while Rhea County dropped in 15 of 22.
“You'd think we don't work on them. But, we work on them every day. We work on them tired. We work on them fresh. We work on them too much to be missing that many,” said a disappointed Lyness. “It's bit us in the butt before and it bit us in the butt again tonight. That's the stuff that can't happen.”
Madison Bishof led the Lady Mustangs with 14 points followed by Sariyah Cox with 10. Ashlyn Pierce had two of Walker Valley's 3-pointers, Cox had the other.
Emma Reeves was the lone Lady Eagle in double figures with 14 points including four treys.
The Lady Mustangs (2-6, 1-2 District 5-4A) battled to a 13-10 lead over Rhea County (8-3, 2-1) to end the first quarter. Rhea raced back to tie the score, 19-19, with just under four minutes left in the half and held a 25-19 lead with 1:54 to go. A 3 from Bishof helped close the gap to 27-24 at the half.
“I felt like we missed too many layups in the first half. That hurt us,” said Lyness. “We controlled the tempo a little bit there when things were going well. Then w'd miss a shot or miss a free throw or something and we'd get down on ourselves. That's the stuff that can't happen.”
Pierce followed a Cox 2-pointer with a 3 from the right corner to give the Lady Mustangs an early third quarter 29-27 lead. The Lady Eagles tied the score two more times before a Reeves trey put the Lady Eagles out front 38-35 as the quarter came to a close.
Reeves put Rhea County up 40-35 to open the final eight minutes and the Lady Eagles would hold onto the lead closing out the night from the free-throw line where they made good on 9 of 15 shots to seal the win.
“We felt like we were better than them, we didn't show it tonight which sucks for me, it sucks for these girls, it sucks for our school,” Lyness lamented. It's frustrating when we miss shots like that because I feel like we take good shots the majority of the time. But, when when we're missing these bunnies and the easy ones, that stuff comes back to bite you. That's what I hate about it.”
Walker Valley returns to the court with back-to-back games against Tyner and Ooltewah Monday and Tuesday at home before traveling to Notre Dame Thursday.
Girls summary
RHEA CO. 10 17 11 20 — 58
WALKER VALLEY 13 11 11 14 — 49
RHEA CO. (58) —Emma Reeves 14, Sariyah Cox 10, Ava Travis 11, Reuhling 5, Jenkins 9, Lockhart 7, Goins, Patton 3, Buchard 1, Garrison 8.
WALKER VALLEY (49) — Madison Bishof 14, Pierce 8, Poe 6, Littrell 2, Woods 4, Earles 5, Worden.
3-point goals: Rhea County 6 (Reeves 4, Lockhart, Patton); Walker Valley 5 (Pierce 2, Cox 2, Bishof).
Records: Rhea County 8-3, 2-1 District 5-4A; Walker Valley 2-6, 1-2.
Boys summary
RHEA CO. 10 7 17 13 — 47
WALKER VALLEY 8 18 17 13 — 61
RHEA CO. (47) — Caleb Martin 16, Brice Dupre 11, Logsdon 11, Norman 5, Carr, Smith, Truax 2, Howard 2.
WALKER VALLEY (61) — Cash Coates 21, Hobert Brabson 16, Caleb Sausville 14, Broadnax 6, Barber 1, G. Campbell 3, B. Campbell, Smith.
3-point goals: Rhea County 6 (Martin 3, Logsdon 3); Walker Valley 6 (Sausville 4, Coates 2).
Records: Rhea County 6-5, 0-3 District 5-4A; Walker Valley 6-2, 1-1.
(Contact Richard Roberts at richardvol55@gmail.com)