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By Allen Earl

Claiborne County Sports Zone

Claiborne High hosted Cumberland Gap for their first regular season series of the season. During an in-school game at CHS on Thursday, the junior varsity Panthers got a 59-55 victory.

The first game Friday night was between the JV girls’ teams. Claiborne opened strong with a 7-0 run, but the Lady Panthers had the lead after eight unanswered points, 8-7. Cumberland Gap went on to lead at half, 20-12. Turnovers were a hindrance for the Lady Bulldogs as they were slowly losing ground to the visiting Lady Panthers.  Cumberland Gap withstood one last run from CHS and took a 15-point win at 45-30.
Sara Stamper led the Gap with 15, and Kelly Hatfield had 13. Audrey Turpin had nine, Natalie Davis had five, Peyton Owens had three. Abby Peters wrapped up the scoring total with two. Claiborne was led by Emma Ferguson with 10. Tayleigh Stansberry had six, Jaylnn Brooks had five, Jadyn Meyers had four. Delaney Nickell finished with three, and Hope Cole had two.
Up next were the varsity girls. Everyone in the gym quickly found out that it was going to be a “night” for Hayden Beeler. Beeler rolled out to 13 first period points as Cumberland Gap took an 18-7 advantage after one period. Beeler was held to six during the second period but finished the first half with 19. Claiborne made it an eight-point game spurred on by back-to-back threes from Jacey Ferguson.
During the third, it was more Beeler. She dropped in 13 more points. Jenna Middleton helped out with a quiet seven points. During the final period, Beeler was closing in on a 40-point night. Jayla Bailey played well even with foul trouble and had eight. Claiborne stayed in the game as well as they could behind the efforts of Emily Buchanan. This one also went to Cumberland Gap as they won 69-33.
Unofficially, Claiborne had over 23 turnovers.  Beeler led all scorers with an official 41 points to set a new school record. Middleton had 11, and Bailey had eight. Kelly Hatfield had seven. Abby Peters, Callie Hoskins both had two. Claiborne was led in scoring by Buchanan with 11, Ferguson had 10. Stansberry had four and four others, each scored two, including Katie Hicks, Channing Buis, Rhea Ware, and Avalynn Cook.
The Lady Panthers (3-1) will visit Scott on Monday and at Anderson County on Friday. The Lady Bulldogs (0-5) were scheduled to play at Union County on Tuesday and at Hancock County on Friday.
The final game of the night featured the varsity boys. Cumberland Gap came in and behind Kolton Goins and Brady Harris pulled out to an 18-12 first period advantage. During the second, the Panthers began with a strong showing from behind the arc. The Panthers extended their advantage to 11 points with just under two minutes remaining in the first half.  The first half of play ended with the visiting Panthers leading by 10 at 33-23.
The Bulldogs were hanging around at the start of the third period, but mid-way through, the Panthers led 40-27. With 2:51 left in the third, the Panthers had extended their advantage to 43-27. After three periods and a Claiborne technical foul, Claiborne fans saw their team behind, 56-31. Harris and Barton kept moving the scoreboard and led 60-31 with 6:37 showing.
Claiborne had no answer on this night, and the final score was 77-48. Harris shined with 22, Gavin Barton had 18, Kolton Goins had 17, Neil Bunch had eight. Gavin Surber finished with six. Keaton Clawson and Cody Weaver both had two.
Claiborne was led in scoring by Cole Holt with 15. Kris Ford had 13. Hunter Greer finished with eight. Drew Epperson had five, Harrison Whitaker had four, and Korbin Whitaker had three.
The Panthers (5-2) were scheduled to play at Scott on Monday and at Anderson County on Friday. The Bulldogs (0-5) were scheduled to play at Union County on Tuesday and at Hancock County on Friday.