The annual Monroe County Championship Tournament for basketball teams from the eighth grade and younger began Jan. 28 at Tellico Plains Junior High with two contests.
Snow and ice forced a postponement after those two contests. The tourney continued
Thursday, February 4, and concluded with the championship games Saturday.

The following are quarter-final games played on the first day of the tourney.
Vonore Lady Blue Devils 49   Rural Vale Lady Panthers 45
The first game of the tourney was an exciting contest in which Vonore used a balanced offense to take the slim four-point win after the Lady Panthers took a six-point advantage after one.
The Lady Devils countered with a 21 point second stanza to lead 27-19 at the half.
Vonore 49: Autumn Tipton 13, Lynsey Macon 13, Emily Ingram12, Marysa Fowler 9, Kari Hall 2, Kayla Jones, Erin Hall, Kristin Cooper, Mitra Sarshuri.

Rural Vale 45: Bailey Gray 23, Jacobi Lynn 11, Marlee Akins 5, Cheyenne, Valarie Cheek 2, Danielle Cain, River Cline, Abby Lynn, Megan Martin, Lanee Mobley.
 
Rural Vale Panthers 42  
Coker Creek Chargers 28
After a shaky first quarter when they scored only two points the Panthers got their offense in high gear behind 23 points by Dakota Stone to advance to the second round.
With each team having trouble scoring the Chargers led 4-2 at the first break. Rural Vale then righted their offense with 14 second quarter points to take a 16-8 lead at the intermission.

Rural Vale 42: Dakota Stone 23, Aaron Ghorley 4, Corey Calhoun 4, Austin Stegmaller 4, Gary Stone 4, Kaleb Watson 3, Jeb Best, Seth Ghorley, Josh Cain, Seth Winston.
Coker Creek 28: Tyler Evans 12, Brian Crisman 8, Geno Palazzola 8, Hunter Swanson, Daman Brown, Cody Swanson, Jacob Peels, J T Dalton, Holden Burrell, Cage Dalton.
Winners of these Feb. 4 contests advanced to the championship games while the losers played in the consolation round.

Madisonville Lady Eagles 50   Vonore Lady Blue Devils 41
Defending champion Madisonville methodically worked its way to a 45-28 lead after three quarters behind Hunter Simpson's 23 points.

But quit is a stranger to the Lady Devils as they proved with a fourth quarter rally to take the final period 12-5. But that wasn't enough and Madisonville cruised into the finals.
Madisonville 50: Hunter Simpson 23, Emily Coburn 6, Chancey Welshan 6, Halea Lingerfelt 6, Laura Whited 6, Katie Torbett 2, Savanna Atkins 1, Crysta Captain, Josee Weese, Savana Atchley, Cassidy Bowers, Linsey Miller, Mattie Torbett, Haley Isbill, Hanna White, Emily Ramsey.
Vonore 41: Marysa Fowler 14, Payton Riley 9, Emily Ingram 8, Lyndsey Macon 5, Jessica White 3, Autumn Tipton 2, E. Hall, K. Hall, Cooper, Sharsuri, Jones.
 
Madisonville Eagles 47
Vonore Blue Devils 25
Eleven different Eagles, led by Taylor Hawkins 15 points, marked the score book as the defending champions moved into the final round.
Vonore played even for the final three quarters but could not overcome Madisonville's 20-6 lead at the first break.

The Madisonville defense compounded the Blue Devils problems with a shutout performance in the second stanza.
Madisonville 47: Taylor Hawkins 15, Ian Morris 6, Thomas Spradlin 5, Trey Strickland 4, Shayne Wilburn 4, Kody Hampton 3, Caleb Miner 3, Reuben Abernathy 2, Sam Yarberry 2, J J Harmon 2, Braden Strickland 1, Evan Torbett, Will Phillips, Ben Brackett.

Vonore 25: Dalton Blankenship 8, Ben Hall 6, Bradon Smith 4, Seth Shaffer 3, Justin Sipes 2,  Cody Weisenhamer 2, Nick Curnutt, Bret King, McKenzie Blair, Dylan Humphreys, Logan Garrett, Devin Carlton, Bradley Hall.

Tellico Lady Cubs 44
Coker Creek Lady Chargers 15
Tellico mauled the Lady Chargers in the first half to build a 22-3 advantage as they coasted to a 44-15 win and into the championship game.
Eight different Lady Cubs marked the scorebook.  Coker Creek played hard to the very end but couldn't overtake Tellico

Tellico 44: Jasmine Harris 10, Chelsey Davenport 10, Bailey Hunt 10, Brayden Garren 4, Rachel Sutton 4, Brittany Kirkland 2, Erin Wilson 2, Emily Lenderman 2, Timber Hunt, Kristen Hawk, Danica Proulx, Hannah Phillips, Clarissa Lambert, Kayla Hall, Sarah Bryson, Kailee Bivens, Brittany Morgan.
Coker Creek 15: McKinley Dalton 5, Samantha Frerichs 5, Shana Debity 3, Katie Jo Ellis 1, Jessi Watson 1, Shaylyn Dicando, Emma Thompson, Samantha Cagle, Donna Doerr, Kaitlin Taylor, Sommer Dalton, Shelby Dalton, Samantha Hutchison, Janie Hemming, Keela Debity.

Tellico Cubs 63
Rural Vale Panthers 32.
Dakota Rinehart, 14 points, and Garrett Reno, 12, led a string of ten Cubs who put points beside their name in the scorebook at Tellico moved into Saturday's championship game.
The Cubs took a 20-8 advantage in the first quarter and added to it in both the second and third periods to raise their lead to 57-26 with one stanza to go.
Each team scored six points in the fourth to produce the final score.

Rural Vale's Dakota Stone scored a game-high 19 points.
Tellico 63: Dakota Rinehart 14, Garrett Reno 12, Austin Stegmaller 8, Bryce Carter 7, Will McInturff  6, Lucas Hodge 5, Colton Carter 4, Ryan Bookout 3, Bryce Choate 2, Blake Hunt 2, Tyler Duncan, Corey Calhoun.

Rural Vale 32: Dakota Stone 19, Aaron Ghorley 10, Zach Haynes 2, Ethan Freeman 1, Kaleb Watson, Stone Gary, Kobey Watson, Josh Cain, Seth Winston, Seth Ghorley, Jeb Best, Tanner Thomas.