SPORTS

On January 30th, the White County High School Warriorettes defeated the Upperman Lady Bees 59-44 at Roy Sewell Gymnasium.

Gracie Clark ('26), Bella Winningham ('26), Ashlyn Selby ('27), Lakelyn Grasty ('26), and Kyra Fox ('26) were the starters for the Warriorettes.

The starters for the Lady Bees were Gracie Butler ('26), Maggie Butler ('26), Sadie South ('27), Taylor Dolente ('26), and Tashariannah Carson ('27).

The Warriorettes started off strong with an early 13-6 lead in the first quarter. Selby dropped eight of those 13 points, and Clark added four of her own.

Dolente, Gracie Butler, and Maggie Butler all had two points each for the Lady Bees’ six points.

In the second quarter, the White County exploded on offense. They racked up 20 points and held Upperman to only eight points. 

Clark dropped eight points, and Winningham shot seven. Kylee Norris ('28) shot a three, and both Grasty and Selby scored two points each.

Bella Phy shot a three for the Lady Bees. Donlente and Maggie Butler both scored two each.

Going into the second half, the Warriorettes held a 33-14 lead over the Lady Bees, but coming out of the half, the Lady Bees started to close the gap 43-31.

Both Gracie Butler and Dolente dropped seven points each, and South scored two of her own for Upperman.

Clark continued to accumulate points for the Warriorettes, with six out of the 10 scored in the third quarter. Winningham and Norris both scored two points each.

In the fourth quarter, White County held their ground and outscored Upperman 16-13. Clark dropped another six points for the Warriorettes, and on the other side of the court, Cassie Crouch ('28) also scored six.

In the end, Clark led the Warriorettes on offense with 22 total points. Winningham dropped her own 14 points, and Selby scored 12.

Clark talked about her mentality on offense. “I knew coming into the game Upperman would try and slow us down, so I took quality shots and got points from doing little things like steals rebounds.”

Clark also rebounded the ball 14 times, and Selby had nine rebounds. Selby also had four assists.

On defense for the Warriorettes, Clark stole the ball seven times. Selby, Grasty, and Winningham all had two steals each.

Head coach Michael Dodgen talked about the game. “I thought we did a good job defensively, and we played hard. And one of our keys tonight was rebounding the basketball.”

He continued, “I thought we did a really good job of limiting their offensive rebounds and not giving them second and third shots, and our kids played really, really hard defensively. I was proud of them.”

For the Lady Bees, Dolente accumulated 14 points, and Gracie Butler scored nine points, in the end.

Dodgen talked about limiting their power shooter. “Kyra and Lakelyn did a really good job on her defensively. Gracie Butler is a good basketball player and plays at a high level, and we were able to take away and force her to pull up and shoot jumpers, which she does a really good job of getting to the rim.”

With the victory, the Warriorettes moved to 4-1 in District 7 AAA and 23-3 overall. Clark said, “I think this is a huge statement win for us, and I’m proud of our team. We were recently ranked number one in 3A in the state, and we proved why.”

The White County Warriorettes look to officially clinch first district place on February 3rd, at Stone Memorial, against the Lady Panthers.