Lady Horns fall short at Hampton, beat Virginia High

Mark McClain didn't prevail in his old stomping grounds, but he was indeed able to go home again. McClain's Johnson County girls basketball team came up short with a 47-44 setback at Hampton on Friday night, but seeing the Bulldogs playing their first game in their home gym since the damage done by Hurricane Helene provided plenty of mixed emotions. "I played in one substate game and I've seen several substate games in my career there," McClain said, "and I think that was one of the biggest crowds I've ever seen in the gym. It was packed on both sides. We had a good turnout from Johnson County. "The atmosphere was just, I mean, it was electric. I would have liked to have pulled one out, but it was a good situation to play in." Junior guard Mackenzie McClain scored a game-high 26 points for the Longhorns. Foul-plagued Audrey Shaw was limited to nine points before fouling out and Abby Dickens scored seven. Frontcourt players C.J. Lipford and Ella Icenhour also fouled out. "It seemed like from the opening tip we were in foul trouble," McClain said. "But we battled. And even after all that, we had a chance to take the lead with 10, 12 seconds left and just couldn't get it done. … "I thought we played decent. We went through a little spell in the third quarter where we let a couple of their shooters get loose, and I think they hit three 'threes.' If they weren't back to back to back, they were really close together, and it put them up 10 or 12." Despite the loss, McClain won't forget the setting for the rivals' non-conference tilt. The atmosphere was further amplified by the court being dedicated to Hampton boys coach Ned Smith. "Well, it's neat to see the gym back up and the kids and the community back in the gym – a really big deal for them," McClain said. "The school looked good, the gym looked nice. They dedicated the court to Ned, which he's very deserving. He's been one of the best coaches, in my opinion, in Tennessee in the last several years. He's just a good, good Christian man and a great leader of his team. It was neat to see, and it was pretty cool that we got to be a part of it." Johnson County began the week with a 46-36 defeat of Virginia High on Monday at home. Shaw and McClain scored 19 and 14 points, respectively. Dickens added nine. The Longhorns outscored the Bearcats, 34-16, in the second half. "I don't know if I've ever been prouder of a group of girls," McClain said. "Virginia High is big. They're big, they're physical. It got very, very heated. Both sets of fans were into it. "And we just battled, battled, battled, and eventually were able to kind of get a little bit of a lead and just kind of took it from there. It was a big comeback for us there in the second half." McClain commended the blue-collar productivity of Izzi Thompson, Lipford and Icenhour in the win against Virginia High. Johnson County will play Cloudland on Monday and finish the week with district games at Chuckey-Doak (Tuesday) and at home against West Greene on Friday. The Longhorns will conclude the week with a visit to KACHEA on Saturday.