November 16, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
Its basketball time!
The DeKalb County High School Basketball Teams will be ready to hit the court running tonight (Tuesday, November 16) and Saturday, November 20 with Hall of Fame action.
The Tigers and Lady Tigers will travel to Whitehouse, tonight (November 16) with the girls game at 6 p.m. followed by the boys showdown. DCHS will then head to Gordonsville on Saturday, November 20 starting with girls play at 12 noon. WJLE will have LIVE coverage.
The first regular season home games will be against Cannon County on Tuesday, November 23 followed by a trip to Warren County on Friday, November 26 to close out the month of November.
DeKalb County will also be stepping up a class moving from Class 2A Region 4 District 8 to Class 3A Region 4 District 7.
The former makeup of the district was comprised of DeKalb County, Macon County, Upperman, York Institute, Watertown, Livingston Academy, Smith County, and Cannon County. In addition to DeKalb County, the new seven team Class 3A District 7 will be made up of Livingston Academy, Macon County, and Upperman along with newcomers Cumberland County, Stone Memorial, and White County.
Last year the Tigers finished with an overall record of 10-14 losing to Smith County in the first round of the District Tournament.
Without the presence of a big man inside this season, Tiger Coach John Sanders said this team’s style of play may be somewhat different.
“Last year we had Evan Jones who was able to score around the basket but this year we don’t have a traditional big man like that to go to inside so we may look to play a little faster and try to press a little more. We will probably be more perimeter oriented on offense. We tried it out this summer and the guys seemed to enjoy it and had some success with it,” said Coach Sanders.
“We have a lot of different guys who we are expecting to make plays in different ways including Brayden Antoniak, Jordan Young, Elijah Ramos, Conner Close, Stetson Agee, Nathaniel Crook, and Isaac Knowles, who is coming out from football this year. We are expecting some big things out of him. We have a lot of guys we are hoping will get some playing time this year,” added Coach Sanders.
As if the old district alignment wasn’t tough enough, Coach Sanders said the new district is perhaps even more challenging.
“I think Cumberland County is probably the front runner. They return a lot from the team they had last year. A team that won their district. White County is always really good and so is Stone Memorial. Upperman lost seven seniors so they might drop off a little bit. Livingston lost their all time leading scorer, Matthew Sells but they will still play really hard although they may drop off a little bit. Macon County lost one or two players but they should still be better. I expect it will be tough across the board,” said Coach Sanders.
The Lady Tigers finished the 2020-21 season with an overall record of 10-15 and made a quick exit from the district tournament losing to Smith County in February,
Senior Kadee Ferrell, one of the leaders on last year’s team and who joined the 1,000 point club, will be returning along with fellow senior Natalie Snipes. Also last year’s District 8AA Freshman player of the year Ella VanVranken will be returning as a sophomore.
“We’ll be counting on Kadee. She has been a great player over the four years she has been here and we are hoping for her to finish out strong and have a good senior season,” said Coach Fish.
“Ella VanVranken is coming off her freshman year as District 8AA Freshman Player of the Year. Hopefully she can continue to develop her game to where there is not any drop off as a sophomore. Sometimes when you come in as a freshman people don’t know about you and what you can do but in that sophomore season there is no fooling anybody. They start planning and scheming for you but I believe she will have a good year for us,” Coach Fish continued.
“Natalie Snipes is our other senior. Natalie will be shooting the three for us. She has been shooting it really good for us during the summer and in shooting practices she has been doing really well so hopefully she will have a good senior year,” added Coach Fish.
“Our Junior Class will be a good class for us with Xharia Lyons getting some playing time. We saw her last year come off the bench and start emerging as a good player at the end. Hopefully Madison Martin solidifies her game this year. She has had a good summer and fall. Hopefully she will step up her game as a Junior”.
“Throughout the team we have some pretty good players. We have a sophomore class which is a pretty good class with Ally Fuller, Cam Branin, and Ella Hendrixson. We’ll take a look at Avery Agee and Dare Collins as freshmen to contribute for us off the bench. We are a little deeper than we have been in the past and I think we shoot the ball better than we did last year. Hopefully with some players playing well and other players stepping up we can make some things happen,” said Coach Fish.
Expect to see the same style of play from the Lady Tigers as in the past. “We will play up tempo, press, and trap. We are not tall. We don’t have any six footers. Our tallest player is 5’ 10 so with 3A teams being a lot bigger we will have to get up and down the floor and use some of our assets and strengths to offset some of our size weaknesses”, Coach Fish continued.
Although it may be tougher, Coach Fish said he welcomes the challenges of the new Class 3A Region 4 District 7 alignment.
“It will give us some different opponents to play but it will be the toughest 3A district in the state. Last year six of the seven teams in it won twenty games or more and five out of the seven teams have won a state championship before and all seven teams have been to the glass house so if we can get out of that district and into the region tournament we will have a chance to do some good things,” said Coach Fish.
2021-22 DCHS Tiger and Lady Tiger Basketball Schedule
November
Tuesday – 16th: White House (HOF)- Away: 6:00
Saturday – 20th: Gordonsville (HOF)- Away: Noon
Tuesday – 23rd:Cannon County- Home : 6:00
Friday – 26th: Warren County- Away: 6:00
December
Friday – 3rd: Watertown- Away: 6:00
Monday – 6th: Cannon County- Away: 6:00
Tuesday – 7th: Smith County- Home: 6:00
Friday – 10th: Stone Memorial * -Home: 6:00
Monday 20th: Heritage Christmas Classic (girls)- Maryville, TN
Tuesday 21st: Heritage Christmas Classic (girls)- Maryville, TN
Wednesday 22nd: Heritage Christmas Classic (girls)- Maryville, TN
Monday – 20th: Riverdale Christmas Classic (boys)- Murfreesboro TBA
Tuesday – 21st: Riverdale Christmas Classic (boys)- Murfreesboro TBA
Tuesday – 28th: Aflac Christmas (girls and boys)- Watertown TBA
Tuesday – 29th: Aflac Christmas (girls and boys)- Watertown TBA
Tuesday – 30th: Aflac Christmas ((girls and boys)- Watertown TBA
January
Tuesday – 4th: Livingston Academy *- Home: 6:00
Friday – 7th: Macon County *- Home: 6:00
Saturday – 8th: Warren County- Home: 3:00
Tuesday – 11th: Watertown -Home: 6:00
Friday – 14th: Cumberland County *- Away: 6:00
Tuesday – 18th: Upperman * -Home: 6:00
Friday – 21st: Stone Memorial *- Away: 6:00
Tuesday – 25th: White County *- Home: 6:00
Friday – 28th: Livingston Academy *- Away: 6:00
Monday – 31st: Smith County- Away: 6:00
February
Tuesday – 1st: Macon County * -Away: 6:00
Tuesday – 8th: Cumberland County * -Home: 6:00
Friday – 11th: Upperman *- Away: 6:00
* District 8AA games
^ Region 4AA games
Game time listed is start time of each girls contest, boys game to follow