Volunteer and Unicoi Battle on the Court

Church Hill- Another fantastic night of basketball happened in the Falcons Nest as the Blue Devils of Unicoi County High School came to town. These two teams have already met once in Erwin as the same outcome happened again with the girls winning and the boys losing. 

     We started the varsity slate with the Lady Falcons playing an instant classic, securing a 60-55 win that was very back and forth. The first period was a defensive clinic as both teams looked for their footing. Jacie Begley and Veda Barton showed their fellows teammates the way with incredible first half play. Begley had 9 points and a few rebounds, while Barton had over 10 rebounds in that first half. The Lady Falcons found themselves only down by one point at the half trailing 30-29. 

     Halftime adjustments were made and the Lady Falcons came out swinging. The Lady Devils found some life by hitting three point shots all over the place as they could not get a good shot to  fall in the paint. Lady Falcons played suffocating defense to hold the Blue Devils to perimeter shots only and a lot of turnovers. Emma Houck had an incredible second half to finish the game with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Alongside great play that doesn’t always show on the stat sheet, efforts by Anna Houck and Emilee Mailloux put this game away for a 60-55 win to improve to 10-4 on the season. 

     Later in the night the varsity boys stepped into the spotlight as they looked to avenge a previous loss to the Blue Devils just 10 days ago. Unfortunately they could not get past Unicoi Co as they are one of the best basketball teams in northeast Tennessee. While the scoreboard didn’t accurately reflect the game, the Blue Devils were as advertised but the Falcons definitely held their own. 

     Once again the Blue Devils shot the lights out hitting most three point attempts, but the real killer was the Falcons struggles down low. Countless times Unicoi was able to drive deep into the lane and put up easy lay ups and put backs. In the end, strong performances by Luke Armstrong and Cameron Cox were not enough to win as the Falcons fell 70-48. It’s very hard to win games that way, but we know that this young Falcons team is fully aware of that. They have a great group of young men and a talented coach. This squad should still be able to have a great season. Falcons next matchup is Tuesday, December 19th at home.