Harrima Wins Close Boys and Girls Games

November 24, 2020 Evensville, TN -- Rhea County opened their home 2020-21 basketball season with two battles.  the Eagles and Lady Eagles came out on the short end of the score in both games.  Lady Eagles lost 58-56 and Eagles lost 59-54.  Lady Eagles' game was close throughout but Harriman made a last minute surge to erase a 51-49 lead for their win.  Eagles spotted the Devils a 15-6 first quarter lead before whittling away until they actually took lead before Harriman made strong finish for the win.  Eagles were led by Keaton Ray with 14 points and Bryce Dupre who had 12 points and 7 rebounds.  11 different Eagles dented the scoresheet.  Harriman was led by freshman Jordan McCullum the 6 ' 7 " post who put up 25 points, a dunk and several blocks on the night.  Lady Eagles were led by Hayla Patton with 22 points and 5 three point baskets.  Also in double figures for the Lady Eagles were Emily McClure with 11 points and Ava Travis and Emma Gentry with 10 points each.  Harriman's Addison Oliver scored 34 points to pace Harriman and Skylar Johnson added 15. Lady Devils 58 Lady Eagles 56 This game was close throughout, with Harriman taking the first quarter lead 15-14.  Harriman increased margin to 23-17 in the second quarter before a Hayla Patton 3 cut the margin to 23-20 with 4:02 left in half.  Over the next 4 minutes, the Lady Eagles outscored Harriman 6-0 for a 26-23 halftime lead.   Third quarter was another closely contested quarter with Rhea County leading 41-39 at end of three. Emily McClure had 7 third quarter points to pace Lady Eagles and Addison Oliver had 10 third quarter points for Lady Devils. Three minutes into 4th quarter a Hayla Patton basket put the Lady Eagle lead up to 48-40.  Emily McClure's layin with 3:53 left in game put the Lady Eagle lead at 8 with 52-44 lead.  Harriman stayed close and scored a basket to pull within 56-51 with 1:20 left in game.  With only 25 seconds remaining, Addison Oliver picked off pass at head of key and raced down court for basket to cut Eagle lead to 56-55.  Harriman fouled Eagles and then after miss on front end of one-and-one, Skylar Johnson came down with rebound and passed to Oliver.  With 9.2 seconds remaining, Oliver was fouled and went to line.  She calmly made both free throws to give Lady Blue Devis the 57-56 lead.    She then stepped in front on inbounds pass, deflected the ball and jumped out of bounds, tossing the ball back inbounds to teammate Nataya Moore.  Moore went to line and made one free throw and Hayla Patton grabbed the rebound and had to heave up long shot from just over half-court that skimmed off the rim as time expired.  Lady Devils won 58-56. Blue Devils 59 Eagles 54 Harriman took an early 8-2 lead early on Jordan McCullum jumper with 4:39 left in quarter.  Eagles cut lead to 8-5 with 3:55 left in quarter when Bryce Dupre side-stepped a defender and hit a elbow three pointer.  Eagle offense went silent for next three minutes and Harriman pushed their lead to 16-5 with one minute remaining.  Josh Waldo added a late free throw to account for final 16-6 score.  Thomas Brown made an inside basket to push the Blue Devil lead to 20-6 before the Eagle offense finally woke up.  Rhea County would outscore Harriman 15-5 over the next 6:30 to pull within 25-21 at the half with Keaton Ray providing the offensive punch with 7 points. Eagles were more effective in third quarter and when Kaleb Martin put in a rebound, Rhea took the 39-38 lead in the quarter's final minute before Oliver answered with free throw line jumper for the final 40-39 margin after 3 quarters.  Eagles outscored Blue Devils 18-15 for the quarter. Bryce Dupre hit the baseline jumper seconds into 4th quarter to give Ealges 41-40 lead.  Amari Roddy had nice putback to keep Eagles in lead at 43-42 with just under 7 minutes left in game.  Over the next 3 minutes the Devils went on 11-4 run to take 51-45 lead with 3:42 left in game.  Josh Waldo picked up fast-break basket on goal tend call and Eagles inched to within 53-49 with 2:17 left in game. With time running down, Harriman went into stall mode and Eagles were forced to foul and Harriman pushed lead to 56-50 with just under minute remaining, but Keaton Ray got Eagles within 56-52 with 51 seconds to go.  A few seconds later Amari Roddy shook two defenders to make the lay-in and offset the Devils one free throw for 57-54 deficit.  Harriman made their free throws and Eagles could not find the basket over the last 30 seconds and Harrima won 59-54.  15 free throw makes were big factor for Blue Devils in the last quarter. The loss put the Eagles season record to 0-2.  The Eagles were much more competitive as players are still seeking chemistry and rhythm.  What Eagles did display more agressive play in second half.  They cut down on the turnovers that really hurt them in first half.   Eagles found themselves on wrong end of fouls 26/17 and free throws 31/18 in the game.  Team should be able to improve moving forward.  Football players are still transistioning over to basketball and Ethan Davis is yet to play as he nurses his leg injury.   Team played with lot of energy for first year head coach John Walker and looked much better than in their season opening loss to Walker Valley. Lady Eagles:

No	Name	Points
1	Alicia Ingle
2	Emily McClure	11
3	Jayla Goins
4	Skye Tran	3
5	Hayla Patton	22
10	Hannah Pankey
14	Jalese Shrp
20	Emma Reeves
21	Raitlyn Taylor
22	Maggie Johnson
23	Ava Travis	10
33	Emma Gentry	10

Harriman   15   8   16   19 - 58 Rhea            14  12  15  15  - 56 Eagles:

No.	Name	Points
2	Rex Pendergrass	3
3	Cooper Ruehling	2
4	Gavin Roddy	4
5	Tyler Dupre	3
10	Josh Waldo	3
11	Kaleb Martin	5
12	Kade Vincent	5
13	Bryce Dupre	12
14	Ethan Davis-dnp
15	Austin Brackett	1
22	Blade Hall
32	Amari Roddy	2
44	Keaton Ray	14

Harriman    6  15  18  15 - 54 Rhea             16   9 15  19  - 59