This past Friday and Saturday the Avery Vikings men’s and women’s varsity basketball teams took part in the fourth annual Unimin Harvest Hoops Tournament held at neighboring In the opening game of the tournament, the Avery Lady Vikings took on a tough opponent in the R-S Central Lady Hilltoppers. Despite the absence of starting guard Hayley Pyatte, the Big Red grabbed the early 12-8 lead after the first eight minutes of action paced by four points apiece from senior guard Lauren Avery and sophomore forward Megan Tennant.
Avery extended its advantage to five at 29-24 by halftime behind production from the Lady Viking bench. Junior forward Katelynn Eudy tallied five points in the frame, with four from junior guard Mercedes Bentley.
Early in the third period the Lady Hilltoppers rallied to take a 34-31 lead before an Avery timeout. After a conversation with head coach Missy Lyons, the Lady Vikings clicked on all cylinders. The Lady Vikings took advantage of nine points from Sara Wiseman to race out on an 18-6 scoring run over the next seven minutes to lead 49-40 with
R-S Central showed its fighting spirit in refusing to fold. Shannon Hines scored nine points in the final stanza to help bring the Lady Hilltoppers with its own 12-5 scoring spurt to tie the game at 54 with only 30 seconds remaining.
On its final possession Avery found inspiration from one of its seniors, as Elyse Perry hit a short jump shot to break the tie and put the Lady Vikings ahead by a pair. Central had a chance to tie with two free throws, but could only hit one of two shots as the Lady Vikings held on to the narrow 56-55 win.
“We got off to a good start, but R-S Central was a decent and a fast team. We missed a ton of shots which was frustrating to the girls, but to hold on to win that close game after having lost the close game at Cloudland gave us confidence going into Saturday,” Avery head girls varsity coach Missy Lyons said following the win. “We played with much more confidence on Saturday, and I felt like we got over a hurdle in that game to finish strong. Sara played really tough in the post like I want her to do and she made her presence known inside. We didn’t hit our free throws as a team down the stretch, but we did some good things and were able to get the win.”
Wiseman led the Big Red with 19 points to go with nine rebounds and four blocks. Lauren Avery was the only other Lady Viking in double figures as she scored 12 points and hauled down ten rebounds. Perry added eight points and seven assists in the win.
The following day Avery had a quick turnaround with a rare
Wiseman picked up where she left off from Friday, as she tallied ten of her 12 points for the game in the first half. Avery and Perry each scored seven through the first two periods to pace the Lady Vikings.
Avery put the contest away in the third quarter. The Lady Vikings blitzed the helpless Lady Raiders to the tune of a 24-6 scoring margin in the stanza. Eight different players scored baskets for Avery in the quarter en route to a 59-25 lead after three stanzas and an eventual 71-41 lopsided victory.
The Lady Vikings shot 43 percent from the field and their pressure defense forced numerous turnovers in the win.
Wiseman scored 12 points with eight rebounds as part of an All-Tournament weekend performance, while Elyse Perry’s seven points and ten assists earned her All-Tournament team member status as well. Hayley Pyatte scored 12 points with five rebounds and four steals, while Megan Tennant scored 11 points with eight rebounds.
“The girls wanted to play a good game, and we had everybody back together. Elyse was awesome with assists and we set the tone with our defense which created our offense,” Coach Lyons said. “Our press worked a lot better than in our other games and we came together on several things. All our players contributed in the game which boosts the overall spirit of the team. Sullivan North had played Cloudland tough the previous week, so I hope the tournament gives us some confidence going into this week’s games and going forward.”
The Avery varsity boys team contended with the same
pair of opponents over the weekend in the Unimin Harvest Hoops Tournament. On Friday evening the Big Red took on an athletic R-S Central Hilltoppers squad.Avery got off to a slow start against Central, falling behind 21-9 after one quarter of action. The Vikings picked themselves up offensively, however, as junior Dustin Clarke scored ten of his 14 points for the half in the second stanza. R-S Central picked up 16 combined points in the stanza from teammates Darrien Watkins and Kyle Holmstrom, many off offensive rebounds through their height advantage, to maintain a double-digit lead at 41-27 at halftime.
Central used an 18-point third quarter to boost the lead to 20 points at 58-38 with eight minutes to play.
In the final stanza the Vikings made a scoring run to get back to within as few as nine points. Kody Hughes scored five of his ten points in the game in the closing quarter and Clarke added six for a game-high 26 points, to go with a team-high in rebounding and steals for the contest. R-S Central withstood the late Viking rally, however, to take a 72-61 win.
“We gave up at least one quarter where we’re not scoring well and allowing our opponent to score. We’re still working on putting together a complete game. I thought we started out a little flat on Friday. We weren’t as sharp early as we were against Cloudland,” Avery varsity boys head basketball coach Bo Manis said following the tournament. “They were an athletic and good shooting team, but we learned as the game went on that we could play with them. Our effort was good at times, but can still be inconsistent. We want to work on consistent effort on both ends of the floor.”
The following afternoon Avery tangled with the Raiders of Sullivan North High. Dustin Clarke led five Viking players in double-figures scoring, but it was not enough as North took a 78-70 win.
Unlike its prior tournament game, Avery generated offense from the opening tip, putting up 20 points in taking a 20-12 lead after eight minutes. North answered the Viking flurry by finding its own scoring touch and using its size to generate second-chance baskets. The Raiders outscored Avery 22-9 in the second stanza, led by 14 points in the quarter from Mark Solyers to take 34-29 halftime lead.
As the third quarter began, the Vikings looked to spark a comeback. Junior Mark Polsgrove drained a pair of three-point baskets in the quarter, but North’s William White responded by accumulating 12 of his 25 total points in the stanza to push the Raider lead to eight points at 56-48.
Clarke’s jump shot heated up in the final eight minutes of play with nine of his team-high 17 points in the quarter, but foul trouble plagued him and his teammates. Clarke, as well as teammates Kody Hughes and Timmy Stewart ended up fouling out late in the contest. North took advantage of its opportunities from the free throw line with a 30 of 39 effort from the charity stripe to help seal the Avery fate.
In addition to Clarke’s 17, teammates Hughes, Stewart, and Spencer Blackburn each tallied 11 points, with ten points and six rebounds from Polsgrove. Luke Pittman added six points and six rebounds as he and Clarke were named to the All-Tournament Team.
“We played well offensively through the first three quarters, but we weren’t able to keep the pace in the fourth quarter which ended up being a big factor,” Coach Manis said. “I was not pleased with the effort on Saturday. I thought we could have given more. We also missed some shots inside that we have to make. We really needed to execute better, and as time goes on our execution has to improve.”
Avery returned to action Tuesday night with a rematch at Viking Gym against the Cloudland, with the varsity girls picking up a 60-36 victory, while the Cloudland boys got revenge for last week's loss with a 71-45 win. Avery hosts rival Watauga this Friday night. A full recap of both nights of varsity action can be found in next week’s edition, as well as here on the Blog!
