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Kingsport Times-News Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Indians Gate City shows

trump
Chiefs
By JOHN MOOREHOUSE
jmoorehouse@timesnews.net
KINGSPORT — Adam Denison got
an early Christmas present Tuesday
night.
A red-hot shooting performance.
Dobyns-Bennett’s senior forward
poured in 25 points, and the Indians
dispatched Cherokee by a 58-53 mar-
gin in non-conference competition.
“I just felt it, I guess,” Denison said.
The Indians swept varsity action,
with D-B’s girls easily defeating
Cherokee 65-31.
Denison, who finished 11-of-15
from the floor, went on a run of eight
straight
made
shots. He
scored
17 in the first half, just shy of the
Chiefs’ collective 19-point output at
the break. Denison scored 10 in the
second quarter alone, helping the
Tribe stake a 29-19 halftime lead.
“Tonight I thought the play of
Adam Denison sort of set us off,”
Tribe coach Charlie Morgan said.
“He’s a post player but he can move
out on the floor, and he can probably
take some guys off the dribble a little
bit.”
The Indians (6-3) took their shots off
the dribble — and forced plenty of
takeaways before intermission.
“We knew coming into the game
that their transition defense wasn’t
that good,” Denison said. “Whenever
we got the rebound, just look up and
push it.”
D-B generated 10 Cherokee mis-
cues in the first half, but had some
turnover issues of its own coming out
of the break. The Chiefs (5-5) capital-
ized, and it was a two-possession game
for much of the third period.
The Tribe still held a 43-39 lead en-
tering the fourth quarter, then did
their best imitation of Scrooge. The
Indians kept Cherokee scoreless for
the first 3:42 of the final stanza.
“We got down by too much early,”
Cherokee coach Jeremy Parrott said,
adding: “Even when we got it to two or
three (points), you feel like you’re be-
hind the 8-ball trying to play catch-up
— even though it was a one- or two-
possession ballgame.”
Darius Davis added 11 points for
D-B. He and Derrick Steele played
tenacious defense on the perimeter.
Matt Hale scored 15 points and
Tyler Risner 11 for the Chiefs.
The Lady Indians had little trouble
with their opposition. Up 44-24
through three, D-B embarked on a
13-0 run to start the fourth frame, mak-
ing the contest a total rout.
“We didn’t have much effort
tonight,” said Cherokee coach Donnie
Anderson, whose team fell to 2-9. “Of
course, this team is nothing to slough
at.
“We go over and over and over
press offense, but it seems like we
were in a daze. Those are mental
things.”
Juli Osborne’s 16 points and Megan
Devine’s 14 set the tone for the Tribe
(7-1). Hillary Gray chipped in 11
points.
“We just picked it up and played as
a team and I think that pulled us
through,” Devine said. “Everybody
just played their hearts out.”
The Lady Indians hadn’t been on
the court since Dec. 12 at Oak Ridge,
their first loss of the season.
Tennessee forward Glory Johnson (25) tries to get to a loose ball in between San Francisco guard
Rheina Ale, left, and guard Heidi Anton, right, during Tuesday night’s game in San Francisco.
Lady Vols shred Dons
By JANIE McCAULEY
AP Sports Writer
SAN FRANCISCO — Pat Summitt challenged
Angie Bjorklund to play much better, and it
worked.
Bjorklund scored 19 points in 17 minutes and
moved into third place on Tennessee’s all-time
3-pointers list with 165, and the fourth-ranked Lady
Vols bounced back from a tough loss with an 89-34
victory over San Francisco on Tuesday night.
Relatively successful
Kingsport’s grandmother-granddaughter tandem
brings home gold from respective state tourneys
By AMANDA MARSH
amarsh@timesnews.net
KINGSPORT — Standing 5-foot-1, it
may not look like Dewanna Calhoun
and her 6-1 granddaughter Hillary Gray
would compete in the same sport.
Looks can be deceiving.
In the past six months, both earned
state volleyball titles. Calhoun and her
fellow Volley Vols qualified for the Ten-
nessee Senior Olympics in Franklin,
where they won gold in the 55-59 age di-
vision.
When Calhoun brought her gold
medal back to Kingsport in July, she
challenged Gray, a 16-year-old junior
and outside hitter for Dobyns-Bennett’s
volleyball team, to follow suit.
“I was kidding with her and I said
‘Your memaw’s won a gold medal and
now you have to do it,’ ” Calhoun said
with a long laugh.
Sure enough, on Oct. 30, the Lady In-
dians beat Ravenwood for their first
AAA state volleyball championship.
“It was awesome to make history,”
Gray said. “We knew that this would be
our year to win it.”
Both the Volley Vols and the Lady In-
dians went undefeated during state-lev-
el tournament play. The senior team
made it to the top with only six players,
including Calhoun, who tore the menis-
cus in her knee during districts.
“The doctor told me I needed arthro-
scopic surgery,” Calhoun said. “He said
to wrap it up and go play.”
Calhoun decided to suspend surgery
until after the Volley Vols went to the
Summer National Senior Games in San
Francisco, where they placed ninth.
“When you get involved in something
like this, you don’t want to let your team
down,” Calhoun said.
its inexperience
in loss to Pulaski game. Pu-
By BILL LANE
blane@timesnews.net laski Coun-
ty (2-5) out-
GATE CITY — The Gate City boarded the home team 34-17. Fig-
boys basketball team could have uratively, the Cougars played vol-
been the envy of all people con- leyball underneath the baskets.
cerned with their aging. “That’s been a point of empha-
“We looked young tonight,’’ sis for us,’’ first-year coach Jeff Mc-
coach Scotty Vermillion said Culloch said. “We spend quite a
Tuesday after the Blue Devils lost bit of time on footwork down there
to Pulaski County 63-56. “Our low. This probably was Greene’s
youth really showed.’’ best game of the season.’’
Austin Arwood was Gate City’s
Gate City (1-3) was getting its fi-
top rebounder with eight.
Associated Press nal tuneup before meeting Chat-
Mark Hanks, who coached Pu-
tanooga Brainerd in the Arby’s
laski County for seven years and
Classic on Saturday at Bristol.
had the school in the state tourna-
Vermillion doesn’t think the
ment six times, became athletic
Blue Devils are quite ready for
prime time.
“We have no vision offensive-
ly,’’ he said. “These kids are just
now learning what we’re teaching
director after last season. McCul-
loch, his longtime assistant, was
promoted to head coach.
Gate City appeared headed for
victory until Pulaski hit a hot
Glory Johnson added 13 points — the motion offense. We’ve got to
streak in the fourth quarter. The
and nine rebounds for the Lady Vols find a way to win. We have a ways
Cougars sizzled in 12 consecutive
(10-1), who stayed in the Bay Area af- to go.’’
points to move ahead 48-43 in a
ter a 67-52 loss to No. 2 Stanford on Matt Greene, a 6-foot-4 center,
three-minute span.
Saturday at Maples Pavilion. Ten- fired in 21 points and pulled down
“It was a long bus ride down
nessee dropped one spot in this week’s poll. 11 rebounds to lead the Cougars.
here,’’ McCulloch said. “We had to
For the first time in 10 years visiting the area, Oliver Samples added 17 points
get our legs under us. We did all
Tennessee had time to do some sightseeing, such and C.J. Burgis collected a
right once we did.’’
as visiting the Golden Gate Bridge and Fisher- game-high 12 rebounds.
The game was a matchup of
Rebounding, particularly on
Please see LADY, page 2D the offensive end, decided the Please see GREENE, page 2D
Although she has the attitude of a
seasoned volleyball player, Calhoun
has been involved with the sport for on-
ly about five years. She and her hus-
band, Gary D., first began playing after
joining the Kingsport Senior Center.
Once Dewanna Calhoun took a few
lessons at the center from Dee Dee
Mullins, she discovered a knack for the
setter position.
“Dee Dee said to make a diamond
shape with you hands,” Calhoun said.
“If you don’t touch the ball it should hit
you in the forehead. They told me from
the time I started that I had good
hands.”
Her granddaughter agrees.
“She’s little and good at what she
does,” Gray said. “It’s the best position
for her.”
Occasionally, Gray practices with her
grandparents and other senior volley-
ball enthusiasts.
“They are really competitive,” Gray
said. “If you were my age and went and
played at the Senior Center you would
think you would show them up, but they
really kept up. They didn’t go easy on
me.”
Despite her knee injury, Calhoun
says she enjoys playing volleyball with
other men and women who aren’t afraid
to “send the ball to the corners on you.”
Erica Yoon — eyoon@timesnews.net
“I don’t like to just sit down,” Cal-
houn said. “I try to stay active. Like that Dobyns-Bennett High School’s Hillary Gray, left, and her grandmother, Dewanna
old saying says ‘If you don’t use it, you Calhoun, both became Tennessee state volleyball champions in 2009, Gray with the
lose it.’ ” Lady Indians and Calhoun with the Volley Vols, a Senior Olympics team.

No. 15 BYU rips No. 16 Oregon State

By OSKAR GARCIA
Associated Press Writer
LAS VEGAS — Max Hall
threw for 192 yards and three
touchdowns in the only bowl
game he knows, leading No. 15
BYU past No. 16 Oregon State
44-20 in the Las Vegas Bowl on
Tuesday night.
Hall gave the Cougars their
third victory in five straight
bowl appearances in the Sin
City and ended the Beavers’ run
of five consecutive bowl wins.
Associated Press
Oregon State appeared troubled
Oregon State running back Jacquizz Rodgers, center, finds a hole in the by cold winds and the lingering
BYU defense during the Las Vegas Bowl on Tuesday night. sting of missing the Rose Bowl.
Hall threw a 25-yard touch-
down pass to Luke Ashworth, a
17-yard scoring strike to Dennis
Pitta and a 15-yard touchdown
pass to Manase Tonga. Hall had
139 yards passing in the first
half.
Tonga added an 18-yard rush-
ing touchdown, and Harvey Un-
ga finished with 76 yards rush-
ing and a TD for BYU (11-2).
Oregon State (8-5) scored on
1-yard runs by quarterback
Sean Canfield and Jacquizz
Rodgers, and a 31-yard pass to
Damola Adeniji after the game
was out of reach. Adeniji led all
receivers with seven receptions
for 102 yards.
Canfield completed only four
passes in the first half as the
Beavers struggled to sustain
drives. He finished 20-for-41 for
173 yards and an interception.
The normally dependable
Rodgers fumbled for the first
time in his college career in the
first quarter, on his 621st touch,
and Matt Bauman returned it 34
yards for the go-ahead score. Of-
ficials used replay to see
whether Canfield’s checkdown
toss to Rodgers was a lateral or
a forward pass, and upheld the
touchdown.
Oregon State finished with
three turnovers, including a
fumble by Rodgers’ brother
James.
Winds gusted to 50 mph at
Sam Boyd Stadium and temper-
atures fell to 30 degrees. The
gusts were so strong that one of
Oregon State’s punts traveled
untouched only 6 yards.