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East Nashville ends Lady Devils’ season




White House's Alexis Bess tries to keep up with her man.JOEL CLINGER

White House’s Alexis Bess tries to keep up with her man.JOEL CLINGER

The East Nashville Lady Eagles ended White House’s special season Friday night with a 56-35 victory to advance to the Region 5-AA semifinals.

The game was won and lost when White House possessed the basketball. In the first half, the Lady Devils missed open shots and only managed 10 points.

From the second quarter on, East Nashville disrupted the White House offense and turned turnovers into easy transition baskets.

“I think that’s where our strength is: defensively,” East Nashville head coach Kyle Upton said. “We want to set the tone early and often and play hard, communicate, talk, just get around and set the energy and the effort at all times, so that’s our goal.”

As a member school of Metro Nashville Public Schools, ENHS had to wait a much longer time than their counterparts to see the floor this year. Upton said that has an effect on the level of play, but his team has to take it one day at a time and capitalize when the time comes.

“It’s hard because we’re only six games into the season, and we’re playing against teams with 28, 30 games (played) already,” Upton said. “We just got to control what we can control. When we get the opportunity, we try to take full advantage of it and just be thankful for what we do have.”

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One positive for the Lady Eagles is they will get to host Cheatham County Monday night, instead of traveling to Westmoreland. ENHS defeated Maplewood in the District 10-AA championship to have that right.

“It was so, so crucial,” Upton said. “Of course you always want to have your home-court advantage. Winning that game was big when you get two home games. That’s a good opportunity for us to get acquainted with each other, play with each other, get in sync for the most part which is still a process.”

White House dealt with pressure for much of the night. East Nashville’s speed and quickness caused problems handling the ball.

“They’re quick; they’re fast; they’re athletic,” White House head coach Kelly Smelcer said. “I’m not sure they’re the quickest team that we played, but they’re pretty darn close if they’re not.”

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Smelcer was pleased with her team’s effort, but their shots simply were not falling. She thinks her team may have been rattled by not seeing the ball go through the hoop early.

“I think we kind of lost our composure a little bit from missing some of those easy shots,” Smelcer said. “If we would have knocked [those] down in that first quarter, I think we would have kind of held on to that momentum a little bit longer than we did.”

While going home is always hard, the Lady Devils can hold their heads high, knowing they accomplished more than any of their predecessors since 2008.

“I feel like getting to the point we got to this year was growth,” Smelcer said. “Our goal coming into the season was to get to the first round, to get the four or five seed in the district tournament and get to region.

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“For us to accomplish that I think is pretty fitting for this group of girls. I feel like they definitely kind of changed the culture at White House, and they believe they can win every time they step on the floor. That’s just something we haven’t had in recent years.”

White House graduates six seniors: Ragan Anderson, Alexis Bess, Sarah Cartwright, Hannah France, Madison Freeman and Cori Terrell.

Smelcer has coached this group since middle school. She believes their impact will go far beyond this season.

“I think this group of seniors is pretty special because I’ve come up with them from seventh grade, so I’ve had them for several years,” Smelcer said. “The senior leadership and just the way these girls have bonded on the floor and off the floor is pretty special to watch because I feel like that’s something we’ve kind of been missing, and that’s part of changing the culture.”

BOX SCORE:

East Nashville (56) – T. Shaw 23, Z. Jones 20, A. Patton 5, A. Kinnard 4, K. Hay 2, J. Horton 2

White House's Faithe Johnstone walks the ball up the floor.JOEL CLINGER

White House’s Faithe Johnstone walks the ball up the floor.JOEL CLINGER

White House (35) – Avery Droz 9, Faithe Johnstone 6, Alexis Bess 5, Ragan Anderson 4, Chloe Hart 4, Marley Hyde 3, Abigail Bradley 2

White House's Abigail Bradley guards her man in the backcourt.JOEL CLINGER

White House’s Abigail Bradley guards her man in the backcourt.JOEL CLINGER

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White House's Carmen Perkins looks for a pass out of a double team.JOEL CLINGER

White House’s Carmen Perkins looks for a pass out of a double team.JOEL CLINGER

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White House's five seniors walk off the floor for the final time Friday night.JOEL CLINGER

White House’s five seniors walk off the floor for the final time Friday night.JOEL CLINGER

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