Lenoir City Middle School's boys and Ft. Loudoun Middle School's girls basketball teams each finished second in district tournament play.

The Panthers played Harriman, falling 43-35, and the Lady Braves took on Rockwood, losing 34-18, in Tuesday night’s tournament championship games.

Ft. Loudoun struggle offensively, with Daneylla Jones leading the team with four points. Haley Ratledge and Lexi Harmon each added three points.

Rockwood jumped on top early, holding Ft. Loudoun to just five points in the first half and taking an 11-point lead into halftime.

Lenoir City''s boys had some trouble on the offensive end as well. Joe Pace led the team with 15 points, but was the only player in double figures. Clay Campbell finished with nine.

Harriman's John Johnson did the most damage against the Panthers, scoring 27 points in the game.
The Panthers led by as much as 14 points in the game, but were outscored 30-17 in the second half. Two technical fouls were called against the Panthers over a 30-second period in the third quarter to give Harriman a four-point lead to start the final quarter. Lenoir City was not able to overcome the deficit over the final minutes of play.

Despite losing in the championship game of the district, both teams qualified for the TMSAA sectional tournament held at Pigeon Forge Middle School.

Ft. Loudoun was scheduled to play Happy Valley at 1 p.m. Saturday, while Lenoir City faced Hampton at 2:15 p.m. Both games were after the News-Herald’s presstime.