Lady Horns in fight into first place

Johnson County girls basketball coach Mark McClain wasn't whistling Dixie back in November when he said he thought his Longhorns had a shot at a District 1-2A title. Johnson County improved to 4-0 in the district with a pair of league wins last week, setting up a showdown at South Greene on Tuesday. The Rebels are also 4-0 in the league. "It's gonna be a good, hard-fought contest, I hope," McClain said. "They've been playing pretty well; we've been playing pretty well. It's the kind of game you like to play in. "It's been a while since we've been involved in a big conference game like that this late in the year. I hope we approach it the right way." The Longhorns' previous trip to Greene County was productive on Tuesday. Junior lead guard Mackenzie McClain and sophomore wing Audrey Shaw scored 26 and 24 points, respectively, in a 57-48 win at Chuckey-Doak. Coach McClain was also pleased with the performances of Ella Icenhour, Abby Dickens and C.J. Lipford. "We played really well," Coach McClain said. "Any time you win on the road in Greene County – or anywhere in the conference – you're pretty tickled. They played us really tough. They took the lead on us briefly in the third quarter, and then we kind of wore 'em down a little bit, I think." Johnson County defeated West Greene, 64-44, at home on Friday. Shaw led the way with 23 points. McClain scored 14, while Dickens and Izzy Thompson added 12 apiece. "West Greene's had a pretty good year," Coach McClain said. "They've got two really good post players which I thought we did a really good job on with C.J. and Ella (Icenhour). They really did well keeping her forced out high. I'm proud of their effort on that, and that's stuff that doesn't get recognized by the normal fan. Just the hard work they showed to fight and grind was impressive. "I thought Kenzie, Abby and Audrey played really well. In the second half we shot it well, and I think any coach would say this: when you shoot it well, it's an easy game. Everybody we've played in the conference, we've let 'em kind of hang around or had to go on a run at the end of the game to win. It was nice to have one that wasn't like that." McClain scored 15 points in a 58-45 win at KACHEA on Saturday. Dickens and Lipford scored nine apiece, and Shayla Sileo scored seven. McClain was able to get a lot of reserves ample playing time in the win against KACHEA. The Longhorns began the week running into a buzzsaw against Cloudland. The Highlanders (19-3) rolled to a 71-40 victory. Shaw scored 15 and McClain had 14 to pace the 'Horns. Taking on teams such as Cloudland, Cocke County (twice), Unaka and Elizabethton is paying dividends, and playing in Hampton's jam-packed gym during the first game there since Hurricane Helene should benefit the Longhorns on Tuesday at South Greene. "I think the Hampton game will absolutely help us down the road," McClain said. "If we got a home substate game, I don't think there'd be that many people there that were there that night. It was electric, and it was good for our kids to play in – that many people, that hostile, that loud." McClain expects a raucous environment at tradition-rich South Greene, which ended Johnson County's season in the district tournament last year at Unicoi County. Kortnei Bailey, now a senior guard, returned from a month-long absence to score 34 points in a 69-63 win that clinched the Rebels a region berth. Johnson County had jumped out to a 26-14 lead in the district tournament game. "Kortnei Bailey is a really good player," McClain said. "Last year in the district tournament she killed us. She beat us herself, pretty much. We'll have to guard her a little bit. … Whoever wins that one is probably in the driver's seat for the rest of the year."