Shorty and the Rock Star

Swaney, Heath form winning Heritage combo

By Stefan Cooper
Editor
Blount Press Row

Carsyn Swaney was a total rock star.

It’s always nice to see a player who’s put in the work torch the place like that in her last home game.

Making it doubly sweet was “Shorty,” fellow senior Chloe Heath, was wrecking the place right alongside her.

The 71-56 sectional championship win over Livingston Academy on Saturday at Ron Wilson Gymnasium is a big deal for second-ranked Heritage as it opens play in the Class 3A girls state basketball tournament on Thursday at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.

The Lady Mountaineers (32-2) meet No. 24 Portland (24-11) in the second of four quarterfinal games inside the Murphy Center.

Tipoff is 11 a.m. CST.

For a look at the Class 3A brackets, click here.

The challenge stiffens considerably should Heritage advance to Friday’s semifinals. The field for this year’s tournament includes the top seven teams in the latest CoachT.com schedule strength + success computer poll.

No. 1 Dyersburg (27-4), the Lady Mountaineers, Jackson South Side (28-2), White County (31-3), Northview Academy (31-4), Cocke County (29-7) and South Gibson (27-8) are each worthy contenders to cut down the nets on Saturday, as are the Lady Panthers.

“We’ll do a few things different, but, I’ll be honest with you, we’ve just got to shoot the ball better,” Heritage coach Rick Howard said. “Down there last year, we shot the ball 26, 27 percent (in a quarterfinal loss), and we still had a chance to win the game.

“If we can just go down there and play our game, I think we have a chance to make a run.”

Swaney tore into Livingston Academy for a game-best 28 points and four 3s on a night the MTSU signee and Miss Basketball finalist became only the second player in program history to reach 2,000 career points.

“We just had to come out and play,” Swaney said. “The atmosphere was great. That got us hyped up, so we just came out firing.”

Heath, a Carson-Newman signee and district co-player of the year alongside Swaney, dropped 21 on the Lady Wildcats. Heritage’s third all-time scoring leader with 1,500-plus points, Heath, a 6-foot-2 marvel in the open floor, came by nine of her points by trey.

Livingston didn’t go away after absorbing a 35-22 halftime deficit.

“We told ourselves at halftime, ‘They’re going to give us the best game they have (the next two quarters),'” Heath said. “We just kept our foot on the gas and kept going.”

“Chloe and Carsyn, they just stepped up the whole game,” Howard said.

The Swaney/Heath combo makes the Lady Mountaineers as good a betting favorite as any. Junior forward Aleyah Smith just may be the player that puts Heritage over top.

The emerging star followed Heath and Swaney into double figures with 12 points and a big, fourth-quarter 3. The block was pretty nice, too.

“I think she played her best game of the year,” Howard said. “I asked her (earlier Saturday), ‘Please, step up and score and use your athletic ability and rebound.’ She hit that three and I about died.”

A history-making dynamic duo and a game-ready sidekick?

Fingers crossed.