On Jan. 4, the Avery High School varsity basketball teams rang in 2011 in style by pummeling the Polk County Wolverines in the Viking Octagon. The Lady Vikings kicked off the night by grabbing an early lead en route to a 72-39 blowout win. The men’s varsity squad did its part to make the evening perfect, defeating Polk by the final score of 76-65.
The Lady Vikings showed little rust from not having played in almost a week by trouncing the Polk Lady Wolverines. The front-court duo of Megan Tennant (19) and Katelynn Eudy (17) combined for exactly half of Avery's points for the game as the Lady Vikings won its eighth game of the season and remained unbeaten in conference play.
AHS jumped out to a 23-6 lead after one quarter, shooting 10 of 20 from the field in the quarter and forcing 14 Polk turnovers in the period. Polk scored six of the first eight points in the second quarter to cut the margin to 25-12, but the Big Red ended the quarter with a 14-2 scoring run to put the game out of reach, leading 39-14 at halftime.
Tennant tallied 17 of her 19 points in the first half, while senior Mercedes Bentley scored seven points and Savannah Dellinger added six points by intermission. AHS substituted liberally throughout the second half and the entire roster saw significant minutes of action. The changes did little to hurt the Lady Viking margin as AHS continued to maintain and even lengthen its lead, carrying a 56-26 margin after three quarters and earning the eventual 33-point win.
Following the Lady Viking victory, AHS and Polk’s varsity boys squads met on the hardwood in the evening’s final matchup. The game pitted a pair of talented clubs was a back-and-forth affair for much of the night. The home club eventually used clutch free throws in the final minutes from the free throw line to clinch the win.
AHS led 21-19 after one quarter behind seven points from senior guard Dustin Clarke and five points from senior center Colton Blackburn. The Vikings seized control in the second period to take a 40-30 advantage at halftime, as Benji Stewart chipped in with a pair of field goals and Spencer Blackburn netted five points off the bench.
AHS maintained its working margin in the third quarter, as a 7-2 Viking run to open the second half inflate The Big Red’s lead to as many as 15 points at 47-32. Polk outscored Avery 17-10 for the remainder of the period to cut the Viking advantage in half, as AHS led 57-49 going into the final stanza.
Polk cut the Avery lead to as little as six points on three different occasions during the final eight minutes. A Benji Stewart three-pointer early in the quarter pushed Avery ahead by nine, and free throws from Clarke in the waning minutes staved off any hope for a Wolverine rally.
The win was the sixth of the season for the Vikings and improved AHS to 3-1 in Western Highlands Conference play. Clarke netted a game-high 28 points, nine of which came from the charity stripe in the final three minutes of the contest on only 11 attempts. He added six rebounds and three assists in the win, with nine points from Joey Potter, eight points and eight rebounds from Colton Blackburn, seven points, four rebounds and three steals from Timmy Stewart, and six points each from Kody Hughes and Alex Villanueva. Andre Overholt led the Wolverines with 15 points, with 14 points from Stephen Staley and eight points, six assists and four rebounds from Shawn Gary.
Avery was scheduled to travel to Madison on Friday, Jan. 7 for another conference clash, but snow forced the postponement of the games. The contests have been rescheduled to Saturday, Jan. 15. The Tuesday, Jan. 11, games at Mountain Heritage were also postponed. The Vikings are next scheduled to take the floor this Friday, Jan. 14, for a conference matchup against neighboring Mitchell.
