Sophomore guard Braylon Geer vs Walker Valley on 1/24/23.(Photo:GaryBolden/RCM)
Rhea County Drops Varsity Games at Home on 1/24/23
1/26/23
Evensville, TN -- Rhea County dropped both games to Walker Valley on Tuesday, January 24, 2023. The Lady Eagles had won on the road vs Walker Valley back in early December by a score of 58-49. In that game Rhea County finished strong with a 20-14 fourth quarter to close out the Lady Mustangs.
Walker Valley 58 Rhea County 35
Ava Travis got the Lady Eagles on the scoreboard for 2-2 tie early. Chloe Poe hit an elbow 3 for a 9-2 lead for Lady Mustangs with 4:33 left in the first quarter and it was Ashlyn Pierce with another elbow 3 shortly thereafter to push the Walker lead to 17-2. Jenna Burchard ended the drought for the Lady Eagles to cut the Lady Mustang lead to 17-4 with 1:45 left in quarter. From there, Walker went on 8-1 run for a 25-5 first quarter lead. The frustration was symbolized by the quarter-ending shot attempt sticking between the rim and the backboard for the Lady Eagles. Six different Lady Mustangs found their way into the scorebook in first quarter, led by Bischof with 7 points. Ava Travis made a basket with 3;43, to pull Rhea within 31-8. It was Cox making the buzzer-beating 3-point shot to give the Lady Mustangs 39-15 halftime lead before a stunned crowd. The second half was pretty evenly played with Lady Eagles outscoring Walker 20-19, but too little too late for Rhea and Walker Valley had the 58-35 win. Lakyn Lockhart did have a nice highlight for the Lady Eagles by making 4 consecutive 3-point baskets. Those baskets gave Lockhart 12 points to lead the Lady Eagles. Ava Travis joined Lockhart in double figures with 10 points. Also scoring were: Jenna Burchard 8, Emma Reeves 4, and Kylie Garrison 1. Lindsey, Poe, Bischof and Pierce each tallied 11 points to lead Walker Valley. Also scoring were: Cox 7, Woods 5, Gibson 2 and Earls 1.
Walker Valley Mustangs 68 Rhea County Eagles 49
Cash Coates led a 3-point barrage in the first quarter as Walker came out hot, with 5 3-point baskets in the first quarter for a 17-11 lead. Tayvon Barber hit for 9 points in the second quarter to help the Mustangs to a 19-12 quarter advantage and a 36-23 halftime lead. In the 3rd-quarter, Mustangs continued their outside shooting excellence with 6 3-point baskets as they ran off 21 points to take a commanding 57-33 lead. Eagle fought back in the final quarter with a 16-10 advantage to cut the final margin to 19 points(68-49). For the game, Mustangs hit 13 long range bombs vs 5 for Eagles. Walker went 5-8 from the line and Rhea went 5-7. The win moves the Mustangs to 10-11 on year and drops Eagles to 16-12.
Rhea County is next scheduled on the road at Bradley Central on Friday, 1/27/23. The Bradley boys have a 15-3 record for the year. Bradley is coming off a 72-27 win over Ooltewah on Monday.
Walker Valley Roster: # 1 Rodney Broadnax # 3 Tayvon Barber # 4 Hobert Brabson, # 5 Graham Campbell # 12 Coleman Green # 13 Eli Wallace # 14 Caleb Sausville # 20 Issac Sausville # 21 Luke Smith # 22 Cash Coates # 23 Brett Campbell.
Rhea County Roster: # 3 Sean Norman # 00 Braylon Geer # 1 Landon Stewart # 2 Cooper Brackett # 4 Aiden Wilkerson # 5 Hank Logsdon # 10 Sam Stumbo # 13 Bryce Dupre # 14 Alex Housley # 20 Caleb Carr # 21 Keshawn Smith #22 Michael Truax # 23 Kyler Akin # 24 Zach Howard # 25 Nasir Shields.