Feels Like '94: Lady Chiefs down Tenn. High for first region win in 32 years

ROGERSVILLE — For the first time in program history, Cherokee played host to a region quarterfinal on Friday night. It wasn't the only history the Lady Chiefs made at "The Teepee." The District 2-3A runners-up earned a 68-51 victory over District 1-3A's No. 3 seed Tennessee High. It was the first win in the region tournament for Cherokee (20-10) since 1994. The 20 wins are also a program record. "Got a couple of monkeys off of our back," Lady Chiefs head coach Jason Lawson said. "Great environment. A great turnout from the community. Really proud of our community coming out and supporting these kids. They've worked really hard." After the Lady Vikings (20-13) held onto a one-point lead going into halftime, Cherokee settled into an offensive groove in the third quarter. The two sides traded baskets early in the frame until the Lady Chiefs went on a 9-0 run to take a 38-29 lead. Jenna Latham ended the run with a triple for Tennessee High, but after that the period remained firmly in control of Cherokee. Following her 3, the Lady Chiefs out-paced the Lady Vikes 12-6 over the final 3:40 of the third. "We had to sit down and re-evaluate (at halftime)," Lawson said. "Take a couple of deep breaths. Realize everything was okay, that we were fine. This was just another basketball game. We fixed our defense a little bit. We were able to get some more stops. Because of that, we were able to get going in transition. Once we got in transition, we really got into a groove." The Lady Chiefs led 50-38 heading into the final frame, and mostly kept Tennessee High at arm's length the rest of the way. Around the 1:20 mark, the Lady Vikings worked the deficit back to a dozen after trailing but as much as 15. They had a look to get within single digits from 3, but it went halfway down and out. Addie Lawson then leaked out on the fastbreak for a layup to put Cherokee up 14. She finished her night with a game-high 22 points. "I thought she was very solid," the Cherokee head coach said. "She's kind of the glue. She holds everything together. She keeps everything going. Likes to keep everyone motivated. She's had a solid season for us, but really glad it was able to go her way tonight. She was able to step up and make some big shots." Brooke Nelson finished her night with 13 points for the Lady Chiefs, but had to leave the game early with an injury. Midway through the fourth quarter, the junior fell on her wrist awkwardly after getting fouled on a drive. "Hopefully everything is going to be okay there," Lawson said. "It was a very physical basketball game. I told a couple of them coming out of (the locker room) that I don't know if we could have came out of a UFC fight any better than what we did. "Hats off to Tennessee High, they are a physical basketball team. They wouldn't be here if they weren't." However, the already banged-up Lady Vikings added another to the injury list. Carleigh Warmack got fouled and left the game with an injury as well. Neither Warmack nor Nelson returned to action. Freshman Rylee Sivert scored 18 points for Cherokee, 13 coming in a back-and-forth first half. Addi Moore and Delaney Linkous each posted 17 points for Tennessee High, a team-high. Up Next Cherokee will play Daniel Boone in the Region 1-3A semifinals on Monday at Grainger.