The Herald-News - News Story

Submitted by Ricky Howell
SCMS ASSISTANT COACH

The Spring City Middle School Bulldogs (12-4, 6-0) finished a perfect 6-0 in the Sequatchie Valley Conference Monday night, fending off a pesky Bledsoe County Middle School Warrior team that would not give in the entire night.

Taylor Jenkins led the way in the first quarter for the Bulldogs with four points followed closely by Macay Hedrick with three and David Loden and Dylan Pritchett with two each to jump out to an 11-4 lead.

The Bulldogs defense swarmed the Warriors and pressured them to take numerous contested shots and forced many turnovers.

In the second quarter, Bledsoe County settled down and played the Bulldogs back and forth throughout the quarter. This time the Warriors turned up the defense and forced many
Bulldog turnovers. Sloppy play by Spring City allowed the Warriors to win the quarter 10-9, but SCMS took a 20-14 lead into the locker room at the half.

The third quarter saw the Bulldogs try to distance themselves from the Warriors. Once again Spring City played some tough defense and kept making shots.

Five different Bulldogs scored in the frame, namely Jenkins, Hedrick, Pritchett, Loden and Garrett Hill.

The Bulldogs won the quarter 13-6 and led the game by 13 points, 33-20, going into the fourth.

In the final quarter, the Warriors caught fire and matched the Bulldogs shot for shot. Neither defense could stop the other team. Each time the Bulldogs would build their lead to double digits, the Warriors would storm back and cut it back to single digits.

The lead dwindled to five with just over two minutes remaining in the quarter but Hedrick drained a three pointer from the top of the key to push the difference back up to eight, and the Bulldogs lead never got below seven points the rest of the way.

The Warriors did win the quarter 23-17, which is the most points the Bulldogs have given up in a quarter all season.

Nonetheless, Spring City hung on for the 50-43 victory and the SVC North Division Regular Season Championship.

The Bulldogs were led by Jenkins with 15 points, nine rebounds, and two blocked shots, followed by Hedrick with 13 points and seven rebounds. Loden and Pritchett chipped in seven points and three steals each.

Meanwhile McCloud led the Warriors with 11 points.

The SCMS Lady Bulldogs (10-6, 6-0) also finished a spotless 6-0 in the SVC this season with a 10-point victory over Bledsoe County. Lady Bulldog guard Morgan Owensby had a career night, pouring in 20 points in the victory.

The Lady Warriors raced out to an 8-0 lead early in the first quarter, forcing numerous turnovers with their pressing defense, which led to a quick timeout by the Lady Bulldogs.
Head Coach Pam Hawkins' team responded to her instructions, going on a 12-2 run to end the first quarter up 12-10.

The second quarter was more of the same from the Lady Warriors as they continued to press and force turnovers by the Lady Bulldogs. Spring City's girls reserves were asked to step in and contribute in a big way, because early in the quarter Lady Bulldog post player Katie Loden went down with an ankle injury and sat out the rest of the half.

The Lady Warriors took advantage of her absence and won the quarter 17-11, taking a 27-23 lead into the locker room.

Coming out of halftime both teams' defenses clamped down and held each other below double digits in the third quarter. Loden re-entered the game in obvious pain but would not be denied as her presence on the court gave the Lady Bulldogs a boost on defense. The Lady Warriors won the quarter 9-8 for a 36-31 advantage after three quarters.

Trailing by five to start the fourth, the Lady Bulldogs went back with their starters and turned up the defense holding the Lady Warriors to only one field goal. Meanwhile, Owensby was red hot from the floor for the Lady Bulldogs, pouring in nine of her game-high 20 points with a three-pointer and a jumper from the foul line. She also drained four of six from the free throw stripe.

Brown and Hannah Dye added five apiece in the quarter as well.

Erin Snow scored the only field goal of the quarter for the Lady Warriors.

The Lady Bulldogs dominated the fourth quarter and won it convincingly 21-6 for a final margin of 52-42 for the SVC North Division Championship.

Owensby had four steals to go along with her 20-point performance, followed by Brown with 17 points, 11 boards, five steals and one blocked shot. Dye added seven points and eight rebounds, while Sydney Price chipped in six points and grabbed six rebounds. Tyra McClendon added two points and played superbly on defense in the place of Loden when she got injured.

Peters led the Lady Warriors with nine points.

Both the Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs will be No. 1 seeds in the SVC Tournment next week in Jasper, slated to be played at Marion County High School.

Before that, however, Spring City Middle will host Madisonville on Thursday for 6 and 7 p.m. tip offs.