Cheatham County Central hosted Harpeth last week as the Lady Cubs and Cubs both enjoyed wins over the cross-town rivals from Kingston Springs while also celebrating Cub player Maverick Lee’s 1,000th point.
Lee was given a special 1,000-point ball at half of the girls’ game.
On paper, Cheatham looked like the clear favorite coming into the game with a record of 18-3 and Harpeth coming in with a four-game losing streak. But the Lady Indians kept the score close was the game was tied at 12 at the end of the first quarter.
The Lady Cubs then went ahead as they had a 23-19 lead at halftime.
A 21-point third quarter for Cheatham allowed the Lady Cubs to start to pull away. Macie Harter would score seven of her nine points in the third and the Cheatham defense permitted just 10 points as Cheatham started to build its lead and pull away.
The Lady Cubs’ defense really shined in the fourth quarter, allowing just three points to get the 52-32 win.
The Cheatham offense saw six different players score, including 10 points for both Ellie Pardue and Katelyn Sisco.
Harpeth’s Mattie Johnson led all scorers in the girls’ game with 11 points.
“I think our girls responded to a little bit of a longer talk (in the locker room during the half),” Cheatham Lady Cubs’ coach Jim Gibbs said. “But they came out and played with a different intensity and I think that was key for us. We didn’t come out with the energy that we normally do and that’s a credit to them (Harpeth).”
Harpeth coach Katie Pacifici was happy with her team’s performance in the first half, but a third-quarter letdown has been the Achilles Heel of this team all season. She knew a strong start in the third quarter was what her team needed to grab the upset.
“If you look at any of our scores from this season, the third quarter is always our worst quarter,” Pacifici said. “We talked about it at half, I told them we cannot continue to have the horrific third quarter that we’ve been having. For me and my team, we were battling.”
The boys’ game started up soon after and it played out much like the girls’ contest.
Cheatham led 16-9 at the end of the first period, but Harpeth would power back in the second to cut the Cubs’ lead to one at 27-26 heading into the half.
Again, a strong third period that saw Cheatham outscore Harpeth 20-7 helped the Cubs build a lead. This time it was Tucker Carter, who was playing with an injured shoulder, leading the charge in the third period with 14 points. Carter ended up with 29 points to lead all scorers.
Harpeth would outscore Cheatham in the fourth period, but it wasn’t enough as the Cubs held off the Indians for the 62-53 win.
“We did a lot of the effort things really well tonight; rebounding, jumping after loose balls, deflecting passes – we did a lot of those things well after preaching about it lately,” Cheatham coach Aaron Nicholson said. “We’ve got a new hard hat award where we’re trying to reward them for doing those kinds of things. With that, they did those tough things and that allowed us to pull away in that third quarter.”
Harpeth was led by Logan Johnston, who scored 19 points.
“We aren’t doing the little things right. You can’t win big games without doing the small things,” Harpeth coach Daniel Moman said. “My boys fight hard, but sometimes their heads aren’t in the right place but we’ll get there. Hats off to Cheatham for playing tough and being very well-coached. Every time we fought back, they answered.”
Cheatham is set for two road contests next week as the Cubs head to White House-Heritage on Tuesday night before making the short trip to Pleasant View on Friday night to take on Sycamore.
Harpeth is scheduled to host Sycamore on Tuesday before hitting the road Friday night to take on Fairview.
BOX SCORES
Girls
Cheatham (52): Ellie Pardue 10, Katelyn Sisco 10, Macie Harter 9, Montana Lee 9, Torrin Peffer 8, Gracie Weakley 6
Harpeth (32): Mattie Johnson 11, Molly Lane 8, Anna Greer 4, Brookelynn Mangrum 3, Alley Thurman 3, Aryn Murphree 2, Jamelyn Kelley 1
Boys
Cheatham (62): Tucker Carter 29, Syler White 14, Maverick Lee 8, Treyvon White 6, Carter Pardue 3, Ethen Harris 2
Harpeth (53): Logan Johnston 19, Blake Allison 14, CJ Turner 7, Zach Russell 4, John Dalton 3, Ethan Merritt 2, Westly Newcomb 2
