BY BRIAN HAMILTON
KNOXVILLE – Knox West was outmatched on Monday night, as Morristown West scored early and often, building a 24-2 first quarter lead, en route to a 73-18 district win.
While a comfortable blowout win is nice, Morristown West head coach Johnny Gaylon is more concerned with how his team executes down the stretch.
“We’re playing more to be in the right spots,” Gaylon lamented after the game. “We weren’t necessarily worried about the scoreboard and we talked about that. We know Knox West is young, but we were just trying to get a little momentum for Friday night.”
Morristown West travels to Morristown East for its cross-county rivalry game on Friday.
Kalyssa Dinkins started off the scoring for Morristown West by hitting a pair of three-pointers for an early 6-0 lead. Charleigh Freeman answered for Knox West by scoring on an easy fast break layup to make the score 6-2.
Madilyn Simpson (34) goes up for a layup during the Lady Trojans’ 73-18 win over Knox West. Photo by Brian Hamilton
Morristown West took a 9-2 lead on a three by Delaney Weddington with 4:39 left in the first quarter. Madilyn Simpson then grabbed a rebound and scored on the putback to make the score 11-2. Jocelin Murray grabbed a steal and found Jhaniya Mitchell for a basket and a 13-2 lead.
The Lady Trojans went into a full court press after made baskets and scored on three consecutive steal and scores to go ahead 19-2. Morristown West held a 24-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Mitchell was fouled on a layup attempt and converted both free throws to put the Lady Trojans ahead 26-2 early in the second quarter. West finally ended the 24-0 Morristown West run when Freeman hit a basket to make the score 30-4.
Morristown West led 35-4 when Caroline Smith hit a foul line jumper to make the score 35-6. The Lady Trojans would take a 43-10 lead into halftime.
The lone bright spot for West in the first half was the play of Charleigh Freeman, who scored seven of the Lady Rebels’ 10 points.
A layup by Madilyn Simpson gave Morristown West a 47-12 lead early in the third quarter. Mitchell followed with back-to-back baskets to push the Lady Trojans’ lead to 51-12 with 4:43 left in the period.
Aubrie Messer scored on a steal and score to make the score 61-12, capping off a 16-0 run with 1:46 left in the third quarter. Morristown West would lead 63-16 going into the final period.
The fourth quarter was played with a running clock and the Lady Trojans came away with a resounding 73-18 win against a district foe.
Morristown West’s Madilyn Simpson led all scorers with 20 points, while Jhaniya Mitchell finished with 18. Kalyssa Dinkins added 11 points, hitting three from downtown.
Charleigh Freeman led Knox West with nine points, accounting for half the Lady Rebels’ scoring.
Morristown West (10-4) will travel to Morristown East (15-4) for an epic cross-county battle on Friday, January 10, while Knox West (0-11) will host Austin-East (9-7) on Wednesday, January 8.
While East appears to be favored at home on Friday night, Galyon likes his team’s chances.
“We’re definitely a little deeper than we were last year,” Galyon said. “We’ve got a little freshman out there, who runs around a lot and we’ve got experience from years past. We only lost one senior last year. We’ve played a really good schedule and I think it has prepared us for some tough games coming up.”