Tuesday Night Highlights: Whitley girls and boys roll over Jellico

The Whitley County girls and boys basketball teams started off their seasons off right Tuesday night, defeating Jellico, TN in double header action.

The girls were up first, cruising to a 61-16 victory to start the season out at 1-0. “We’re testing those habits that we hope we learned in the preseason,” said Head Coach David Estes after the game. “We want to be better defensively, pressuring the basketball and making it difficult for teams to initiate their offense. Also, rebounding the basketball. Those are things that we have struggled with at times, but I feel like we have made improvements in those areas. The score tonight wasn’t really that relevant to us. We just wanted to continue making progress, and I thought we were able to do that.”

Estes also pointed to the fact that his team was able to make most of their free throws as one of the main reasons that they were able to be so successful in their debut. In all, Whitley scored 17 points from the charity stripe on the night.

Next up for the Lady Colonels will be a home game against Barbourville this Thursday, December 1. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. inside Lawson Gymnasium.

Whitley County 61, Jellico 16
Whitley County – 21  26  8  6  –  61
Jellico, TN –  2   3   10   1   –   16
WC – Estes 15, Clear 4, Frazier 9, Feltner 5, Smith 2, Lawson 13, Hill 5, Bolton 1, Kinder 5, Lewis 2
J – Smith 5, Moses 3, Harris 2, Perkins 3, Anderson 3

Next up were the boys. Their game was only slightly more competitive, with Whitley County improving to 1-0 after an 83-51 win.

After the game Head Coach Jerry Overbey explained that his team has a difficult early season schedule ahead of them, but he said that as long as his players continue to work hard and take care of the details, he feels like they will be fine. One thing he did stress, however, is the continued focus on eliminating turnovers. That, he said, will be key moving forward.

The Colonels will be in action again this Thursday, December 1, when they take on Madison Southern in the Legacy Nissan Classic at North Laurel High School in London. Tipoff is tentatively set for 9:00 p.m.

Whitley County 83, Jellico 51
Whitley County – 21  24  29  9  –  83
Jellico, TN –  11  18  11  11  –  51
WC – Richardson 20, Downs 18, Johnson 15, Rice 5, Brown 6, Rose 3, Wilson 7, Carr 4, Lawson 1, Powell 2, Anderson 2
J – Moses 3, Hyslope 11, Mitchell 6, Defore 13, Shelley 3, Marlow 4, Ivey 3, Hall 6, Wilson 2

Also Tuesday, the Corbin Lady Hounds opened up their 2016-17 season with a tough road trip to Boyle County, falling 65-29. They will host McCreary Central in their home opener this Friday, December 2, at 7:30 p.m. inside Gilliam Gymnasium.