Friday, February 18, 2011

Western Highlands Conference Tournament Brackets UPDATED

Below are the updated pairings for the 2011 Western Highlands Conference Boys and Girls Basketball Tournaments being held this week. The varsity tournaments will be held at Madison High School, while the junior varsity tournaments are held at Madison Middle School.


UPDATE: The Avery Lady Vikings defeated the Polk Lady Wolverines in Thursday's varsity girls tournament semifinal by a final score of 57-38. Megan Tennant led the Lady Vikings with 18 points and 6 rebounds in the win. Katelynn Eudy added 12 points and five rebounds, with 8 points and 3 steals by Mercedes Bentley and 6 points and 7 rebounds from Mary Chesnut Smith. Guards Savannah Dellinger and Kelsie Clarke combined for eight rebounds and 10 assists.

Avery will now take on Mountain Heritage in the tournament final on Friday night at 7 p.m. Heritage defeated tournament host Madison in the other semifinal to set up the showdown. An Avery comeback forced overtime in the clubs' first meeting this season in Burnsville, leading to a 67-63 Avery win. Avery took control early in the teams' second encounter in Newland, with the Lady Vikings prevailing by a 67-45 final score.
Regardless of Friday's result, the Lady Vikings will host a first-round game in next week's state playoffs.

In the boys semifinal on Thursday the Avery Vikings fell 80-64 to top seeded Mountain Heritage. The Cougars began the game with an 11-0 run and led at one point 21-5. Avery rallied to drop the lead into single digits, but the Cougars offense was too much to overcome.

Dustin Clarke paced Avery with 25 points in the defeat, with 13 from Timmy Stewart and nine points from Mark Polsgrove. Alex Villanueva scored six points, with five from Kody Hughes.

The boys team will hit the road in the first round of next week's NCHSAA state playoffs.

In JV tournament action, the Avery Lady Vikings were upset in overtime 47-45 against the Mountain Heritage Lady Cougars. The JV Vikings also fell to the Cougars, as a strong second half Heritage effort erased an Avery first-half lead.