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After finishing second in region, Wildcats’ season ends at Sevier County

Posted at 2:25 pm March 5, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Wildcats finished as runner-up in Region 2-AAA with a 65-51 loss to Bearden in the championship game at Wildcat Arena on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Oak Ridge finished second in Region 2-AAA after a 65-51 loss to Bearden in the championship game on Thursday, and the Wildcats’ season ended with a 62-57 loss at Sevier County in a sectional game on Monday.

Oak Ridge (26-7) trailed in both games from start to finish, although the Wildcats narrowed the Smoky Bears’ lead to one point in the final minute before Sevier County (25-6) pulled away on free throws in the Class AAA sectional game on Monday.

The sectional games determine which teams go to the state basketball tournaments at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro this month. The winners of the sectional games advance to the state tournaments, and the season is over for the teams that lose.

It’s Sevier County’s first trip to the state tournament since 1991. The Smoky Bears are one of only eight teams in Division I, Class AAA, to play in the state tournament. Bearden is another.

Oak Ridge last went to the state tournament in 2017, when the Wildcats were eliminated 63-60 by Memphis East in a semifinal game. [Read more…]

After win over Catholic, Wildcats play for Region 2 championship

Posted at 11:56 am February 28, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Wildcats were led by senior guard Marcus Smith (2), pictured above during a district tournament game on Feb. 18, 2019, with a game-high 23 points against Catholic in a Region 2-AAA semifinal game on Tuesday, Feb. 26. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Oak Ridge will play Bearden in the Region 2-AAA boys basketball championship at Wildcat Arena this evening (Thursday, February 28).

Oak Ridge (26-5), the District 3 champion, advanced by defeating Knoxville Catholic 65-58 in a semifinal elimination game at home on Tuesday.

Bearden (27-5), the District 4 champion and defending Region 2 champion, advanced by beating Maryville 55-43 in the other semifinal game at Wildcat Arena on Tuesday.

The Wildcats were led by senior guard Marcus Smith with a game-high 23 points against Catholic. Senior guard Herbert Booker scored 16 points, and he had at least five steals. Senior guard JaVonte Thomas added 15, and he had at least five rebounds.

The Fighting Irish (25-7), the District 4 runner-up, were led by 6-foot-9 junior forward Akeem Odusipe, who scored 19 points and had at least seven rebounds and three blocks. Freshman Presley Patterson added 13 points, including on three three-point shots, and senior Ryan MacDonald and freshman Brian Edwards each scored 10 for Catholic. Edwards also had at least eight rebounds. [Read more…]

Oak Ridge wins Region 2 championship with Guinn’s three-pointer at buzzer

Posted at 10:00 pm February 27, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won the Region 2-AAA championship with a 53-50 win over Maryville at Wildcat Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019, with a three-point shot at the buzzer by senior Jada Guinn. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won the Region 2-AAA championship with a 53-50 win over Maryville at Wildcat Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2019, after a three-point shot at the buzzer by senior Jada Guinn. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was last updated at 6:30 a.m. Feb. 28.

The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won the Region 2-AAA championship with a 53-50 win over Maryville on Wednesday after a three-point shot at the buzzer by senior Jada Guinn.

Guinn, a Miss Basketball finalist who has signed to play at Tennessee Tech, scored a game-high 21 points. She also had at least 10 rebounds.

Guinn, who was named most valuable player of the regional tournament, made two three-point shots in the final 33.9 seconds. The first one was from near the top of the key. She hit the last one-dribble shot from beyond the three-point line near the right sideline after an inbounds pass near half court following a timeout with 1.5 seconds remaining.

Jubilant fans erupted onto the floor of Wildcat Arena, cheering and jumping for joy after the dramatic finish.

Oak Ridge (32-2) will host Dobyns-Bennett (28-7), the Region 1 runner-up, at 7 p.m. Saturday at Wildcat Arena in a Class AAA sectional. The winner of that game will advance to the state tournament in Murfreesboro in March. [Read more…]

Lady Wildcats play for Region 2 championship tonight

Posted at 2:54 pm February 27, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge senior Jada Guinn (24) has passed 2,000 points total scored for the Lady Wildcats, and she set a single-game scoring record of 45 points at Karns on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019. Guinn is pictured above shooting a free throw during a 81-24 win at Clinton on Friday, Jan. 24, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Oak Ridge senior Jada Guinn (24) is pictured above shooting a free throw during a 81-24 win at Clinton on Friday, Jan. 24, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats will play for the Region 2-AAA championship at home tonight (Wednesday, February 27).

Oak Ridge (31-2) will play Maryville (30-2). The Lady Wildcats were the District 3 champion, and the Lady Rebels were the District 4 champion.

Oak Ridge advanced to the championship game by beating William Blount 50-29 in a Region 2 quarterfinal game on Friday and defeating Bearden 50-43 in a semifinal game on Monday.

Maryville advanced to the championship game by beating Anderson County 82-59 in a Region 2 quarterfinal game on Friday and defeating Campbell County 60-52 in a semifinal game on Monday. [Read more…]

Wildcats win district championship, then beat West in regional game

Posted at 3:34 pm February 26, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Wildcats won the District 3-AAA basketball championship with a 75-65 win over Karns on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Note: This story was updated at 3:20 p.m. Feb. 28.

Oak Ridge won the District 3-AAA basketball championship with a 75-65 win over Karns on Wednesday, and the Wildcats won a Region 2 quarterfinal game with a 78-63 victory over West at home on Sunday.

The Wildcats (25-5) will play Knoxville Catholic (25-6), the District 4 runner-up, in a regional semifinal at Wildcat Arena this evening (Tuesday, February 26).

Oak Ridge senior Marcus Smith scored 41 points during the championship win over Karns on Wednesday, with 26 points in just the fourth quarter. Eleven of those points were from free throws. Smith was named most valuable player of the district tournament.

On Sunday, Wildcats senior JaVonte Thomas scored 30 points in the Region 2 quarterfinal win over West at Wildcat Arena. Smith and Thomas have been the Wildcats’ top two scorers. Like Smith, Thomas was named to the District 3 All-Tournament Team last week.

The other semifinal game at Wildcat Arena this evening will feature Bearden (26-5), the District 4 champion, and Maryville (28-3), the number three seed from District 4. Oak Ridge is the only District 3 team in the regional tournament. [Read more…]

Boys basketball game rescheduled to Sunday

Posted at 3:36 pm February 23, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Wildcats had been scheduled to play West in a Region 2-AAA quarterfinal game today (Saturday, February 23), but the game has been rescheduled to Sunday as heavy rain causes flooding and road closures across the area.

The elimination basketball game is now scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday at Wildcat Arena at Oak Ridge High School.

Lady Wildcats win fourth straight district championship

Posted at 3:00 pm February 22, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won their fourth straight district basketball championship with a 47-40 win over Campbell County at Karns on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

KARNS—The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won their fourth straight district basketball championship with a 47-40 win over Campbell County at Karns on Tuesday.

The girls rallied from a nine-point 24-15 deficit in the second quarter to take a lead that they didn’t give up at the end of the third quarter. The Lady Wildcats outscored the Lady Cougars 10-5 in the final quarter to expand their margin.

Oak Ridge senior Jada Guinn was named most valuable player of the District 3-AAA tournament, which was played at Karns High School. Guinn has been named district tournament MVP three of the past four years: 2016, 2018, and 2019.

“It feels good,” Guinn said after the Tuesday night win. She said the competitive Campbell County game helped prepare Oak Ridge for the next level, which includes the Region 2-AAA tournament that starts today (Friday, February 22). [Read more…]

Basketball: Regular season ends Tuesday at Fulton

Posted at 8:47 pm February 11, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge’s regular basketball season will end at Fulton on Tuesday.

The games had been scheduled for Saturday but were rescheduled because Knox County Schools were closed Thursday and Friday.

The girls’ game will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, and the boys’ game will begin at 7:30.

Both teams will continue playing in the playoffs.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Guinn a finalist for Miss Basketball

Posted at 2:03 pm February 7, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge senior Jada Guinn (24) has passed 2,000 points total scored for the Lady Wildcats, and she set a single-game scoring record of 45 points at Karns on Monday, Jan. 28, 2019. Guinn is pictured above shooting a free throw during a 81-24 win at Clinton on Friday, Jan. 24, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Oak Ridge senior Jada Guinn is a finalist for Miss Basketball in Class AAA in Tennessee.

The three finalists were announced Thursday. Besides Guinn, the finalists for Miss Basketball in Class AAA are Madison Hayes of East Hamilton High School and Jayla Hemingway of Houston High School.

Guinn was, as of several games ago, averaging 23 points per game this year, seven rebounds per game, four assists per game, and three steals per game, according to Miss Basketball nomination information posted by broadcaster David Clary. She scored 24 points or more in the first half of two recent games: 27 at the half at Karns on Monday, January 28, and 24 at the half at Clinton on Friday, January 25. She’s had several recent games where she has scored more than 30 points, with 32 at Clinton that Friday and 34 against Halls at Wildcat Arena on January 8.

Guinn scored 32 points against Campbell County on Friday, February 1, when Oak Ridge defeated the Lady Cougars 74-44 after losing to them 49-48 in November. Guinn scored 32 in that earlier game also. [Read more…]

Read about Tee Higgins’ jersey retirement ceremony

Posted at 11:06 am February 2, 2019
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Oak-Ridge-Higgins-Clinton-Aug-18-2016-Web

Oak Ridge wide receiver Tee Higgins (5), who was then a senior, talks to a television reporter after a 56-21 rout at Clinton on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. Higgins had two touchdown receptions and two interceptions that set up Wildcat scores. Higgins is now a sophomore receiver at Clemson, and he caught a touchdown pass in the Tigers’ 44-16 college football championship win over Alabama on Jan. 7, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Oak Ridge Today was not able to attend the jersey retirement ceremony for Tee Higgins at Wildcat Arena on Friday night, but you can read two stories about the ceremony here:

Basketball: Guinn passes 2,000 points, sets single-game record of 45

Posted at 3:20 pm February 1, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge senior Jada Guinn has passed 2,000 points total scored for the Lady Wildcats, and she set a single-game scoring record of 45 points at Karns on Monday.

Guinn moved into third place on the all-time scoring list during that same game, when she scored her 2,064th point in the first half of a 94-19 win, according to Prepradio.com broadcaster David Clary, who tracks Wildcats’ statistics. She went on to add to that scoring total later in that same game.

Guinn has played basketball all four years at Oak Ridge, and she has signed to play basketball at Tennessee Tech.

Guinn was, as of a few games ago, averaging 23 points per game this year, seven rebounds per game, four assists per game, and three steals per game, according to nomination information posted by Clary for Class AAA Miss Basketball in Tennessee. She scored 24 points or more in the first half of two recent games: 27 at the half at Karns on Monday and 24 at the half at Clinton last Friday. She’s had several recent games where she has scored more than 30 points, with 32 at Clinton on Friday and 34 against Halls at Wildcat Arena on January 8. [Read more…]

Basketball games rescheduled to Monday

Posted at 11:06 am January 27, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge basketball games that had been scheduled for Tuesday at Karns have been moved to Monday because of the threat of snow and cold winter weather on Tuesday.

There is an 80 percent chance of snow in the Oak Ridge area on Tuesday, and the low Tuesday night could be 16 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the seven-day forecast by the National Weather Service in Morristown. [Read more…]

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