Heritage boys, Gordon Lee girls win JV tourney titles
Both teams finish seasons unbeaten
For the third consecutive season, the Heritage Middle School junior varsity boys’ basketball season came to a close with the Generals hoisting an NGAC title.
The JV Generals, coached by Kelly Hill, won the tournament at Chattanooga Valley Middle School on Dec. 17-18, in the process, ran their JV winning streak to 34 straight.
After going 9-0 in the regular season, with four victories coming by four points or less, Top-seeded Heritage found itself in another battle to open the tournament as they got past Dade, 30-26, last Friday night.
Eli Thacker scored 12 points to lead the way for the Navy-and-Red, while Max Hood finished with eight. Landon Summers added seven points, while Caden Hight chipped in with one 3-pointer.
The Generals were back on the court early Saturday afternoon to face fifthseeded Gordon Lee and enjoyed a 27-15 win to secure a spot in the title game.
Thacker had eight points to lead a balanced attack. Summers went for five points, while Hood dropped in four. The rest of the scoring featured three each from Hight and Cooper McCrary and two apiece by Carson Rich and Jordan Gaffin.
The victory put them in the finals against thirdseeded LaFayette, fresh off an upset of secondseeded Lakeview and who had lost to the Generals by just three points (2926) in the regular season.
The championship game would be another close one, but Hight would score six of his team-high 12 points in the final quarter and Heritage was able to claim the title with a 37-31 victory.
Hight had a pair of threes in the win. McCrary finished with eight points, followed by Hood with seven and Thacker with five. Summers added four with Rich dropping in one.
A couple of miles down the road, the Gordon Lee Lady Trojans, coached by Lester Galyon, also polished off an undefeated season by winning twice to take the girls’ tournament title at Rossville Middle School.
The Lady Trojans, the tournament’s top-seed, had a bye to Saturday morning’s semifinals where they handled fourth-seeded Heritage, 29-14.
Molly Corvin had a gamehigh 14 points for Gordon Lee. Riley Mull picked up four points and Whitney Blaylock added three, while Marley Stone, Mackayla Martin and Hynleigh Harding all scored two apiece.
Then in the finals later that day, the Navy-andWhite faced off with second-seeded Ringgold and got a tough battle.
However, the Lady Trojans emerged with a 28-22 victory to secure the tournament title.
Mull led a balanced scoring effort with nine points. Stone added six and Corvin went for five. The remainder of the points came from Martin (three), Blaylock (two) and Brenley Burnette (one).