Middle School Hoops: Avery Upends Cranberry in IntraCounty Battle

Last Thursday evening the intra-county rivalry between the Avery Middle School Panthers and the Cranberry Middle School Wildcats was renewed at Avery High School’s Viking Gym. The night was a stellar one for the silver, white, and black attack, as the Panthers swept both halves of the girls/boys basketball doubleheader.

The ladies opened play, and the two squads played evenly through a tightly contested first quarter. Despite the absence of two starters due to illness, the Lady Wildcats used a slow-down pace to look for good shots and keep the game close. Avery, a team that enjoys running the floor, managed to pick the pace up near the close of the period to take a 7-5 lead after one quarter.

Avery sped up its offense in the second quarter, as the duo of Lauren Burleson and Breanna Heaton combined to score ten of the 11 Lady Panthers points in the stanza. Cranberry was only able to muster three baskets in the quarter, one each from Bethany Burleson, Sarah Beth Daniels, and Amber Johnson, as Avery took an 18-11 halftime lead.

In the second half the Lady Panthers clamped down defensively, holding Cranberry scoreless for over half the period. Meanwhile Avery started clicking on its turnover-induced fast break. Heaton was a force with her ability to shoot and drive, scoring 10 of her game-high 16 points in the quarter. Avery doubled its entire first half output in the third quarter alone, leading 36-16 after three quarters.

Cranberry’s Abby Thompson drained a pair of three-pointers to try to get the Lady Wildcats back into the game in the final stanza, but Avery proved too strong as it netted a 42-25 win.

“I thought we could create some turnovers with our zone and play tight, but weren’t able to do so in the early part of the game. We switched to a man-to-man to speed up the tempo,” Avery head coach Donnie Johnson said after the game. “If it involves speed of the game, we’re going to excel and get more possessions. We tried to keep running and shots started to fall in the second half.”

Breanna Heaton led Avery scorers with 16 points, with 11 points from Lauren Burleson and eight from Haley Woody. Bethany Burleson paced Cranberry with seven points, with six apiece from Abby Thompson and Sara Beth Daniels.

The win puts Avery alone in first place in the Toe River Conference standings at 5-0, and the team believes it has the ability to sweep the second half of the season as well.

“I think we’re good enough to finish the regular season undefeated. We are improving with each game,” Coach Johnson said. “We worked the ball better tonight, but it will all depend on our shooting on a given night. Our defense is going to be there, but how well we shoot the ball with be the difference.”

The boys game closed out the evening, and Avery established its dominance early with a 14-2 scoring margin through the opening six minutes of play. Stetson Stafford managed the lone Cranberry field goal, while Avery’s Chase Buchanan was strong inside with seven points for the quarter.

Avery continued to pour it on, using a 12-5 run in the second quarter to take a 26-7 lead at halftime.

Stafford and Cranberry teammate Chandler Austin combined for six points in the third quarter to try to mount a comeback, but Avery answered with field goals each from Chance Watson, Ty Polsgrove, Kobe Pittman, and Luke Wotell to lead 34-13 after three periods and eventually capture the win with a 41-23 victory.

Chase Buchanan led ten Avery scorers with 11 points. Watson added eight in the win, with five points from Polsgrove. Stafford and Austin were Cranberry’s high scorers with seven points apiece.

Both teams continue the road this week to the Toe River Conference regular season championship and each will host a conference game this Thursday evening with girls action starting at 5 p.m. at the respective schools.