Hiwassee Dam – It was a challenging week for the Lady Eagles, with games against two of the better teams in the 1A West in Highlands and Robbinsville.
And despite taking sizable losses in both games, it let Hiwassee Dam see what it needs to improve on before the conference tournament begins.
“The thing we got going for us is the conference tournament is here,” head coach Avery Cutshaw said. “That’ll help us, having a little home-court advantage, not having to travel.”
The Lady Eagles (10-12 overall, 4-2 Little Smoky Mountain Conference) played Blue Ridge on Tuesday night at The Nest in the Little Smoky Mountain conference tournament semifinals, which took place after this week’s edition of the Cherokee Scout went to press. The winner will advance to the championship Thursday and play the winner of Highlands-Nantahala.
Both games followed similar scripts. Highlands (13-9, 6-0) jumped out to an early double-digit lead, and Hiwassee Dam got as close as 10 in the second quarter until the Lady Highlanders pulled away for a 64-36 win.
Against the Lady Knights (16-5) on Senior Night, Robbinsville started fast but Hiwassee Dam cut the lead to five early in the second quarter. The Lady Knights answered with a 17-4 run to lead 35-17 at halftime on their way to a 57-30 win.
Freshman Olivia McNabb led the Lady Eagles in scoring in both games, scoring 14 points against Highlands and nine against Robbinsville.
Moving on to the conference tournament and likely the state playoffs, Cutshaw is hoping to see his team become more active on the defensive end, while hitting some of the easier shots on the offensive end. He thinks that will make his team more confident, and things will flow from there.
“We’ll have to work hard at practice the next couple days.” Cutshaw said. “And hopefully we can come and play better than we have the last two games.”