Basketball Recap: Volunteer Comes Up Short

Volunteer lost against Unicoi County back in December of 2023, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Tuesday. The Volunteer Falcons lost to the Unicoi County Blue Devils at home by a 68-52 margin. The Falcons have now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.

Despite the defeat, Volunteer saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Griffin Head almost dropped a double-double on 15 points and nine boards. Head is on a roll when it comes to rebounds, as he's now pulled down nine or more in the last three games he's played. Another player making a difference was Lucas Gilliam, who went 5 of 7 en route to 10 points and eight rebounds.

Leading Unicoi County to victory were Jackson Simmons and Kaden Cutlip. Simmons went 10 of 17 on his way to 26 points, while Cutlip went 6 of 12 on his way to 20 points. The team also got some help courtesy of Koda Cutlip, who posted ten points and three steals.

Volunteer now has a losing record at 5-6. As for Unicoi County, they are on a roll lately: they've won three of their last four games, which provided a nice bump to their 4-2 record this season.

Volunteer will take on Cherokee at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Volunteer is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 61.3 points per game this season. As for Unicoi County, they will head out to face off against Mitchell at 8:00 p.m. on Thursday. Mitchell knows how to get points on the board -- the squad has finished with 55 points or more in their past three matches -- so hopefully Unicoi County likes a good challenge.