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Johnson powers SM women to conference home victory
Felicia Johnson scored 19 points and had nine rebounds Friday leading Smoky Mountain to a 75-58 Western Athletic Conference women’s basketball victory over North Henderson at the SM gym.
Cayla Cucumber added 15 points for the Lady Mustangs (12-2, 3-0), and Brittany Gilbert had 12 in their first home game in four weeks.
North’s Morgan McMinn, a Clemson signee, led all scorers with 27, and Sydney Lyda netted 17.
“It was good to get back home,” Coach Cindi Simmons said. “It was a good win against a quality opponent. Anytime a team has a player the caliber of McMinn, they’re dangerous.”
SM got a boost when Ashley Robinson, the team’s leading scorer at 14.8, returned to action. She had missed the last three games and most of a fourth with a knew injury. Robinson entered the contest late in the first half and immediately made her presence felt with a basket and a blocked shot.
“She gave us a spark when she came in,” Simmons said of Robinson, who had seven rebounds and blocked two shots.
Three-pointers by Cucumber and Gilbert along with Johnson’s basket gave the Lady Mustangs the lead for good at 8-2 with 5:15 to go in the first period.
Heather O’Connor’s three-pointer cut the gap to 10-9 with 2:18 on the clock, and it was 19-15 at the quarter break.
North was within one on four occasions in the second stanza. The last was 28-27 on McMinn’s basket at the 3:53 mark.
Three-pointers by Tasha Junaluska and Gilbert helped open the margin to 34-29 with 1:15 on the clock, and it was 37-32 at intermission.
O’Connor had her team as close as 39-37 when she scored with 5:46 to play in the third period.
The Lady Mustangs began to take control with an 8-2 run, capped by Jordan Cagle’s three-point play, for a 49-40 lead at the 2:22 mark.
They scored the quarter’s final six points, including four by Johnson, for a 55-43 advantage.
Gilbert stole the ball from McMinn and scored on a layup for a 62-45 lead with 6:10 left in the game.
McMinn scored six in an 11-2 spurt narrowing the deficit to 65-56 with 4:12 remaining.
SM regained control with six straight points, the first six by Johnson, for the game’s biggest lead, 75-56, on Cucumber’s basket with 35 seconds left.
Johnson made six field goals and was seven of eight from the line. Cucumber hit five field goals, including a three-pointer, and four foul shots. Three of Gilbert’s four field goals were treys, and she had a free throw.
Junaluska and Cagle both finished with nine points, Robinson netted six, Kelly Childress scored three and Kayla Cooper had two.
Junaluska came up with 10 assists, and Gilbert recorded five steals. Cagle had seven rebounds.
SM shot 40.3 percent from the floor.
The Lady Mustang JVs are 8-4 after a 61-28 win. Stormy DeLucia, Jessica Logan and Alex Taylor all had eight points.
SM led at quarter breaks by scores of 16-4, 26-11 and 45-15.
“The girls had an opportunity to challenge themselves,” Coach Ollin Dunford said. “They stepped up. They were mentally drained after exams, but they overcame that.”
He singled out Shelly Hyde for her play.
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