Published: November 21, 2008 11:38 pm            

Indians clobber Warriors

Area roundup

CHATSWORTH — While the Murray County Indians bulldozed an undersized Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, 72-39, in the basketball season opener for both teams Friday night, Indians coach Greg Linder wasn’t happy with the way his team played.

“I’m happy with the win but I’m not happy with the way it happened,” Linder said. “We’ve got a lot of work we have to do. A win is a win — I’ll take one every day no matter how they come. But we’ve got a long way to go as far as executing the way we want to execute and playing at the level we need to play at.”

The Indians (1-0) had a size advantage with 6-foot-6 center Tanner Long and 6-3 forward Chandler Puryear — the Warriors didn’t have a player over 6-2 — and outrebounded LFO 31-20 and routed the Warriors (0-1) with mid-range jumpers and post-up shots.

Long led the team in scoring with 14 points and added three rebounds and a blocked shot despite limited playing time due to foul trouble.

Guard Garrick Sanford had an extraordinary game, scoring 12 points on perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the field and added five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

The Indians’ full-court press overwhelmed the Warriors, forcing 20 turnovers (to just two assists) and a 12-for-42 shooting night.

Chase Sanford had four of the Indians’ nine steals.

Murray County led 17-15 after one quarter, 35-23 at halftime and 49-36 after three. But the Indians erupted in the final quarter with a 24-3 run, holding the Warriors scoreless in the final 3:43 of the game.

With just over two minutes remaining, Linder let his bench get some playing time and saw no drop-off, with the Indians holding LFO scoreless and getting four points from junior Will Ross, who hit a 3-pointer and a free-throw.

While the boys team excelled, the Lady Indians struggled in a 73-45 loss to LFO.A strong post presence from Lady Warriors center Jasmin Carey and an even stronger outside game from Kayla Weaver — along with a relentless LFO half-court press — did Murray County in.

Carey finished with 16 points and Weaver drilled five 3-pointers and led all scorers with 25 points to seal the victory for the Lady Warriors (1-0).

LFO’s defense forced Murray County to turn the ball over 24 times.

“Our struggles were because of the turnovers,” said Lady Indians coach Traci Rankin. “They didn’t push us into too many turnovers, we were turning the ball over ourselves by making very bad passes. We could have beat their press, we beat it several times. We just have to have confidence in ourselves.”

The Lady Indians (0-1) never seemed to find their rhythm, missing several lay-ups and wide open shots throughout the game.

Cayla Brock led the Lady Indians with nine points, was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free-throw line and hit her only 3-point attempt. She also added three steals.

Brittany Spence also had nine points and Mariah Parker finished with eight.

Tember Marchant led Murray in assists with four.

• Christian Heritage boys 60, Signal Mountain 49: Damien Chaney scored 21 points and Landon McClure added 13 for the Lions (4-1). Tommy Malerbi tossed in nine points and Ivy Acres finished with seven.

Luke Locke scored a game-high 22 points for Signal Mountain.

• Christian Heritage girls 51, Signal Mountain 34: Katy Nagel scored 20 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lady Lions (2-0). Maggie Peeples added 19 points and seven steals for Christian Heritage and Meg Crawford finished with five points and seven rebounds.

Sarah Dolmovich led Signal Mountain with 12 points.

JV basketball

• Murray County boys 70, LFO 49: Blake Hammontree tossed in 19 points and Zach Hall added 14 as the Indians opener their season with an easy victory. Jake White had nine points and Zach England eight for Murray. Jordan Turner paced Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe with eight points.

• Christian Heritage girls 28, Signal Mountain 21: Ann Marie Massengale had 14 points and 15 rebounds for the Lady Lions (1-1), and Karla Ireta finished with six points and 11 rebounds. Marah McIntyre also had six points.

        

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