By Tabitha Evans Moore | EDITOR & PUBLISHER
MANCHESTER, Tenn. — It’s two up, and two down for this year’s Moore County Raiderettes basketball team as they notched their first two regular season wins this weekend at the Hall of Fame Tournament played at Coffee County Middle School on Saturday. They beat Portland 68-24 in game one and defeated Page 51-32 in game two.
With zero seniors on last year’s squad, the Raiderettes battled into the Class 1A State Championships as underdogs. They managed a 58-55 OT win over Clay County to make it into last year’s Final Four, then mounted a second half comeback against Greenfield to earn a spot in the state championship game against Pickett County.
In the finals, Pickett County came out swinging – mounting a 12-point first half lead from which the Raiderettes never recovered. They settled for Class 1A Runners Up last year.
There’s considerable buzz surrounding this year’s MCHS Raiderettes. Not only are they boasting a roster full of seniors – many who have been in the starting line up since their freshman year, but they’ve also added a talented transfer to the roster, Ally Sharpe.
Interestingly, Sharpe is the daughter of University of Alabama at Huntsville Women’s Basketball Coach Allen Sharpe and former Raiderette Susan Faulkner Sharpe. The couple recently relocated to Lynchburg to be close to family.
Graham led against Portland in Game One
In game one on Saturday, the Raiderettes flexed their considerable offensive muscles. Raiderette fans expected that. What they might not have expected was the defensive intensity.
Moore County jumped out to a big 22-6 first period lead in game one against Portland thanks in no small part to hot shot three-point shooting and a staunch, aggressive defensive effort by the starting five. Ally Sharpe drained two treys and Emma Sazonov and Ellie Graham added one each. This onslaught happened as they held the Class 3A’s Portland to just six first period points.
As the Portland defense keyed in on Sharpe and Graham based on their first period shooting, Coach Chad Spencer simply opened the shooting opportunities. Katy Fletcher and Madison Dingler got in on the perimeter shooting with a trey each in the second period.
Moore County walked into the halftime locker room with a 40-15 lead over the Panthers.
The Raiderettes continued the intensity in the second half – mounting double digit third and fourth periods while holding the Panthers to just nine second half points. At the final buzzer of game one, the Raiderettes earned their first win of the 2024-25 season – an impressive 68-24 thumping of a team from a bigger school.
Ellie Graham led against Portland with 19 points followed by two other double-digit contributors. Ally Sharpe added 15 and Katy Fletcher swished 11 more. Other contributing Raiderettes were Madison Dingler (7), Audrey Harder (4), Emma Sazonov (3), and Anna Harder (2). Lily Hoagland (2), Ellie Carter (2), and Abbey Mason (1) all came off the bench to contribute as well.
Sharpe led against Page in Game Two
The Raiderettes got off to a slower start against Class 4A Page in game two. Moore County managed just a pair of treys – one from Sharpe and a second from Fletcher – as well as a pair of baskets from Sharpe in the first period. All other points came from the line.
The Patriots continued to send Moore County to the line in the second period – resulting in a bit of foul trouble headed into the second half. Moore County swished nine of 12 from the charity stripe to head into the locker room with a 33-17 advantage.
Page attempted a come back in the third quarter – putting up 10 points while holding Moore County to just nine. But by then, it was too late as the Raiderettes had managed to mount a 15-point lead. By the final buzzer, Moore County earned win number two of the regular season – besting Page 51-32.
Five starters did the heavy lifting against Page. Ally Sharpe led with 12 points followed closely by Madison Dingler with 11 points. Ellie Graham added 10 more and both Katy Fletcher and Audrey Harder added nine points each.
Both the Raiderettes and Raiders will face off at Class 2A Cascade on Monday, December 2. They will kick off District 9 play at Eagleville on January 10.•
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