Whitley Rout

Despite an 82-18 win over the Jellico Lady Blue Devils Monday night at Lawson Gym on the Whitley County High School campus, coach Larry Anderson found fault with his team’s play.
“I wasn’t pleased defensively,” he said. “I don’t think we did a good job keeping the ball from rotating side to side. We were very passive in our denial defense. I was pleased with our post defense, I thought we let them catch it inside too easily and once they did catch it we didn’t do a good job staying in position.”
“I think we were rushing a little too much in the first half,” said Anderson. “We were taking shots too early and I think we were just too ready to play. We settled down in the second half and played much better.”
The Lady Colonels (1-0) didn’t have any trouble establishing the lead in the first half, jumping out to a 17-3 lead at the first stop as sophomore Holly Jones scored nine points to pace Whitley County in the period. She scored all nine points in the first quarter.
Junior Amanda Brimm added six points, all from the paint, while Randal Holbrook had five first-half points.
If anything positive came out of the first half for Jellico, it was holding senior Stephanie McCullah to two first half points. McCullah ended the game with 10 second half points.
“On the positive side, when everybody was working together defensively, we made them take some bad shots,” said Anderson.
“What I liked about the second half, was we made the extra pass instead of taking that first look,” said Anderson. “We were getting a better look at the basket.”
The Lady Colonels outscored Jellico, 33-0 in the third period and pulled away rather easy. Whitley County took a 60-10 lead into the final quarter.
Jones continued to have the hot-hand, finishing with a game high 24 points.
“I think that was a big difference in the second half,” Anderson said. “We made the extra pass and were unselfish with it.”
Anderson said he didn’t know what to expect from the Lady Devils after Jellico had defeated their first opponent last week. “The report we had on them is that they were real aggressive,” said Anderson. “But, at the same time, we had a size advantage and probably a depth advantage too.”
“Our kids played hard,” Anderson said. “We didn’t give them a lot of easy stuff. I don’t know if we were that good or not. I think there were things that we did tonight that we got by with that we won’t get by with later.”
“There were a lot of things we got by with that we have to take care of or they will come back to haunt you,” said Anderson.
“I am satisfied that we won by a big margin and we will look at the things that we did well but there are some things we did that bigger teams will take advantage of, if we don’t correct them.”
There’s not a lot of time to enjoy this win because the Lady Colonels will host the Corbin Lady Redhounds Friday at 7:30. The primetime game of the week.
Jokingly, Anderson said, “If I have to get them up for a big district game, I quit.”
“We just don’t want to be too ready,” Anderson said. “I think they are looking to Corbin and ready for that game. They were talking about that in the locker room. It’s going to be a tough game. Corbin has a nice team, they are going to be competitive this year. We are going to have to work our butts off, if we are going to win that game.”
“I love the fact that it is going to make a difference,” said Anderson, referring to the early seeding process. “It’s early in the year, but it’s going to make a difference in how the district tournament comes out.”
“It puts pressure on you early and teaches the kids to play in that atmosphere and prepare for a big game,” added Anderson.

Whitley County 82, Jellico 18
Jellico 3 7 0 8- 18
Whitley Co. 17 10 33 22- 82
Jellico (18) – Davis 2, Baird 4, Laws 6, Blankenship 2, Leach 2, Johnson 2.
Whitley County (82) – McCullah 12, Hobrook 12, Brimm 8, Jones 24, Osborne 7, A. Deaton 4, Gray 9, Partin 2, M. Deaton 4.