It didn’t take long for the Station Camp High School girls basketball team to get settled in.
Station Camp High junior Linze Edwards elevates for a jump shot over Hunters Lane’s Brenisha Cooper during fourth-quarter action. Edwards scored a game-high 18 points.
The Lady Bison outscored visiting Hunters Lane by a 23-4 margin in the second quarter and never looked back as they came away with a 68-36 victory in Tuesday evening’s Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Hall of Champions contest.
Station Camp led 35-10 at halftime
The Lady Bison hit nine 3-pointers in the contest, courtesy of five different players.
“We are very capable of knocking those downm and we have multiple people who can knock them down,” Lady Bison interim head coach Jill Gregory said. “I’m very pleased with that.”
Sophomore Jane Deason hit three of those 3-pointers on her way to an 11-point effort.
Sophomores Carol Fitch and Jessica Hopson connected on two 3-pointers each, and junior Cassidy Fry and sophomore Sydney Creager each hit one 3-pointer.
Station Camp High sophomore Sydney Creager dribbles past Hunters Lane’s Michilina McClain during fourth-quarter action. Creager scored five points in Station Camp’s 68-36 victory.
The Lady Bison’s outside shooting allowed junior Linze Edwards to work inside. Edwards scored a game-high 18 points.
“She had a big night,” Gregory said. “In practice, we’ve been making sure to let the girls know that we want to get it inside, that they can drive to the basket and dish (the ball) off to her, and we can shoot those little floaters and let her get up there and get them.
“We made sure that the girls recognize that we do have an inside person, and we need to make that presence in practice. It carried over to the game.”
Had it not been for her teammates’ sharpshooting, that number might have been even more for Edwards.
“I think I could have gotten more rebounds,” Edwards said. “But the girls shot the ball well, so that’s good too.”
The Lady Bison eventually built a 37-point lead (64-27) following Fitch’s 3-pointer with 2:52 remaining, which activated the mercy rule. That results in a continuously-running clock (implemented when one team leads by 35 points in the fourth quarter).
“I told the girls that it’s very important for us to play our game and for us to stay in control of the ball,” Gregory said. “That’s what we wanted, and that’s what we did.”
Nine different Lady Bison scored. In addition to Edwards and Deason, Hopson finished with eight points, and Fry had seven.
Edwards said that things have gone smooth under Gregory, who is filling in for head coach Kendra Jackson for this season as Jackson continues to recover from a bone marrow transplant.
“I’ve worked with her the past three years, so it’s not that different, even though it’s my first year for varsity,” Edwards said.
The Lady Bison debuted new uniforms for this season, with lime green trim in support of Jackson’s battle with lymphoma. Station Camp will have new uniforms for both home and away games this year.
Station Camp High junior Emiline Payne drives toward the basket ahead of Hunters Lane’s Trenia Hancock during fourth-quarter action. Payne scored six points in the Lady Bison’s 68-36 victory on Tuesday evening.
“The uniforms look really good,” Gregory said. “The girls were very excited about wearing those and supporting Coach (Kendra) Jackson, even though she’s not here. We have home and away uniforms, and we got those approved by the TSSAA (Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association) to wear the lime green this year.”
Hunters Lane’s leading scorer was Adrian Dalton, who finished with 12 points and also had two of the Lady Warriors’ four 3-pointers.
The Lady Bison are scheduled to travel to Smith County on Saturday for a pair of Hall of Champions games against York Institute (at 3 p.m. at Smith County Middle School) and Smith County (at 6 p.m. at Smith County High School).
Station Camp will open the regular season on Tuesday at Rossview.
Reach Chris Brooks at cbrooks@tennessean.com or at 615-575-7118. Follow him on Twitter @CB_SumnerSports.
HUNTERS LANE (36) – Adrian Dalton 12, Trenia Hancock 8, TyAnthia Jordan 7, Brendne Cooper 4, Michilin McClain 3, Tybresha Watkins 2.
STATION CAMP (68) – Linze Edwards 18, Jane Deason 11, Jessica Hopson 8, Cassidy Fry 7, Carol Fitch 6, Emiline Payne 6, Sydney Creager 5, Pray Ward 5, Olivia Delk 2.
Half: 35-10, Station Camp. Three-point goals: Hunters Lane 4 (Dalton 2, Hancock 1, McClain 1), Station Camp 9 (Deason 3, Fitch 2, Hopson 2, Creager 1, Fry 1). Records: Hunters Lane 0-1, Station Camp 1-0.