CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Cleveland coach Mindy Kiser couldn’t have scripted a worse time for her Lady Raiders basketball team to have a period of ineffectiveness offensively.
The White County girls couldn’t have scripted a better ending.
The Warriorettes outscored the Lady Raiders 22-5 in the final quarter and advanced to the Region 3-AAA semifinals with a 56-44 victory Friday night at Cleveland. The hosts shot 3-for-10 in the fourth quarter from the foul line and went the final 7:25 without a field goal, being outscored by 19 in that span.
White County (20-11), which will play McMinn County (20-8) in Monday’s semifinals at Cleveland, had two of its past three seasons ended by the Lady Raiders. The other Monday semifinal pits Bradley Central (27-2) and Cookeville (22-10).
“It’s a good win for us,” said White County forward Kelsey Roberts, who had the go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:23 left. “Cleveland goes to the boards hard and it’s a constant battle underneath, so we couldn’t lay off at any point.