Frank's Shootout: Warriors defeat Whitwell 96-70

On Dec. 19, the Warriors kicked off Frank’s Christmas Shootout at Roy Sewell  Gymnasium. The Warriors took on the Whitwell Tigers coming out with a 96-70 win.

The Warriors took the lead in the first quarter with Mason Steele putting up 11 points, and Tucker Pinion followed close behind with nine.

The Tigers trailed behind by eight, with Tyson Basher scoring 13 and Ryder Burns following behind him with five points. This allowed the Warriors to lead into the second quarter 28-20.

In the second quarter, the Warriors' moved the ball offensively with Jack Carpenter having 11 points and Cole Sims having seven points.

This strong offensive scoring allowed White County to put up 29 points combined in the second quarter leaving them with a 22-point lead over Whitwell who was only able to score 15 points this quarter with 10 of the 15 resulting from player Jordan Powell.

Heading into the second half of the game, in the third quarter the Warriors moved the ball seeing four different players score, putting up 33 points with Pinion having 14 points and following behind him Jack Carpenter scoring eight points, Mason Steele with seven points, and Cole Sims with four.

The Tigers were only able to put up 19 points in the third with Tyson Basher scoring eight, Brody Harvey having seven, and Jordan Powell and Ryder Burns both having two points.

This set White County with a 90-54 lead over Whitwell, setting the Tigers in a bad spot going into the fourth quarter.

Taking this lead allowed head coach Eric Mitchell to go deep into his bench allowing new players to come in which he’s not been able to do much this 25/26 season.

“It was good for those younger guys to get some playing time. They haven’t seen much time on the court this season, and we may end up needing them down the road.” said Mitchell when asked about this unexpected play time after taking this big lead.

In the fourth quarter, minimizing the play time of starters White County only scored nine with Noah Skieth having five and Griffin Adams scoring one.

The Warriors showed that even deep within the bench they still have defense deep within only allowing Whitwell 16 points.

Whitwell was led in the fourth quarter with Jordan Powell having 14 of the 16 points and Brody Harvey having the other two.

This resulted in the game ending 96-70 with the Warriors taking a big win over Whitwell for the second time this 25/26 season.

Tucker Pinion ended the game with 24 points, winning player of the game.

“It feels great because I played well, but, more importantly, we got the win, so I'm pleased with the outcome of the game regardless,” Pinion said.

Following Pinion in scoring was Mason Steele who put up 21.

“It felt good helping out, but the team won as a whole. We came out pretty slow but eventually we found the three and then we picked it up,” Steele said, when reflecting on his input to the team's win.

“It's gonna get a lot tougher,” Mitchell stated when asked about the outlook of the rest of the tournament.

Mitchell followed up saying, “Liberty Creek is really good. They’re big. They rebound. We’re gonna have to keep shooting like we’ve been and pick up our defensive intensity.”

Steele also made a similar statement saying, "There's some good teams, but I think we can win if we keep playing like we’ve been playing.”