TOP SEEDS ADVANCE IN WOMEN"S TOURNEY

The women's side of the TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII Tournament got underway Friday afternoon with the three playin games.  In the first game of the day, Pellissippi holdin on to defeat Southwest Tennessee 83-81.  In the second playin game, Cleveland State defeated host Volunteer State 61-43.  Chattanooga State defeated Roane State in the final game 78-40.

PELLISSIPPI 83 - SOUTHWEST TENNESSEE 81

The opening game saw a lot of swings in momentum as both teams tried to take control of the game.  In the first three quarters, Pellissippi built a ten point lead through three quarters at 63-53.  They maintained that lead for most of the fourth quarter until Southwest got within one at 75-74 with 2:47 to play.  The game stayed within three points the rest of the way, but Southwest wasn't able to ovewrcome the deficit at the end.

For Pellissippi, Autumn Crick led five scorers in double figures with 23 points.  She was followed by Maiya Moore with 15 and Karley Hunt with 13 points.  Ellie Lynx and Presley Clark each finished with ten points.  Crick and Alicia Pollard led the team with six rebounds each.  Ashley Crick, Amelia Richardson, Hunt, and Linx each had five boards.  Hunt led the team with seven assists while Autumn Crick had four in the game.  Moore and Hunt each had three steals in the contest.

 For Southwest, they had three scorers reach double figures led by Jamiyah Jones with 29 points.  Shani Clark had 23 points, and Sanii May finished with ten in the game.  Clark was the leading rebounder for Southwest with ten rebounds.  Jones also collected eight boards in the game. Jones also led her squad with three steals.  Jones, May, and Bailey Boone were weach credited with one assist.

CLEVELAND 61 - VOLUNTEER 43

In the second game, Cleveland would take advantage and build a solid lead only to see Volunteer crawl back into the game.  With score 45-43 in favor of Cleveland at the end of three quarters of play, Cleveland would outscore Volunteer 16-0 in the fourth quarter for the win.

For Cleveland, Sloan Pender led a trio of scorersws to reach double figures with 14 points.  Macie Collins would follow her with 13, and Kennedy Baker would end the game with ten points.  Baker would lead the team with 14 rebounds with Collins adding six as well as Mar'Nazha Houston.  Kayla Lopez led the team with five assists with Baker adding three and Pender with two as well.  Collins had six steals to lead they way with Baker grabbing five on the day.

For Volunteer, they were led by Jaydah Rainey with 17 points.  Ta'Kyiah Mason also reached double figures with ten points.  Rainey led the way with 15 rebounds.  Lanaya Young led the way with two assists and four steals.  Vanessa Ray also had three steals.

CHATTANOOGA 78 - ROANE 40

Chattanooga had little trouble with Roane State as they never trailed in the contest as they moved out to a 10-0 lead early in the first quarter.  They held a 23-7 lead after the initial quarter, and held Roane to single digits in each of the first three quarters.

Chattanooga had four scorers reach double figuresw led by Cassidy Thomas with 19 points coming off the bench.  Layla Boulding and Love Howard followed with 13 and 12 points.  Rachel Burkhalter totaled ten points in the contest.  Nora Walkup led the team with 11 rebounds followed by Kimora Currie with nine in the game.  Akya Woods and Bouldin each had six boards.  Currie and Thomas led the squad in assists with four each.  Thomas and Burkhalter led the team with four steals apiece.

Roane was led by Kyree Patrick with 13 points.  Janae Aponte was next with nine points while Jaden Cooper finished with seven points.  Aponte led the team with ten rebounds followed by Patrick with seven boards.  Patrick had two assists while Aponte had three steals to lead the team in those categories.