Derek Rende and Russell McNeil combined for 40 points Monday night and led Soddy-Daisy past Central, 64-51, in the opening round of the District 6-AAA high school basketball tournament at Brainerd.

The victory gave fifth-seeded Soddy-Daisy (18-11) a berth in next week's Region 3-AAA Tournament in Crossville. Fourth-seeded Central ended its season at 5-16.

In the girls play-in game, fifth-seeded Central beat fourth-seeded Soddy-Daisy, 52-50.

TUESDAY'S SCHEDULE: 4--Red Bank vs. Ooltewah, girls; 5:30--Red Bank vs. Ooltewah, boys; 7--Central vs. Brainerd, girls; 8:30--Soddy-Daisy vs. Brainerd, boys.

SODDY-DAISY 64, CENTRAL 51: The Trojans of coach Ron Shumate roared to a 16-5 lead early in the second quarter, but Central fought back and trailed by only 25-24 at halftime.

McNeill, a sophomore who finished with 19 points, scored eight points early in the fourth quarter for the Trojans. Rende, a junior, scored the last eight of the quarter and Soddy-Daisy carried a 45-34 lead into the final quarter.

"Both of them played extremely well tonight,'' Shumate said. "Rende hit some big shots when we really needed them. And McNeil did a good job defensively on No. 14 (Dominique Jones) and did a good job getting his teammates involved. Sometimes, he tries to do it all by himself.''

Rende finished with 21 points for the Trojans. Zack Crawford and Jared Dobbs scored nine each for Soddy-Daisy.

Jones paced Central with 20 points and Jeremy Harden added 16.

"We were a little up-and-down tonight, but this is new territory for us,'' Shumate said. "They haven't been here before. It's always been one-and-out. They were 4-22 last year and lost 20 straight.

"We played well. The real key was keeping them off the boads and coming out on their shooters.''

Said Rende, "Keeping them off the boards and tightening up our defense was the key. I got a little hot there in the third quarter. Sometimes I get lucky.''

McNeil said the Trojans will be confident when they play top-seeded Brainerd tonight.

"We'll try our best to win again,'' he said. "I've just got to keep trying to get my teammates involved. That's what coach wants.''

CENTRAL GIRLS 52, SODDY-DAISY 50: Central coach Rick Rogers knew something was wrong with junior guard Barbara Holland at halftime.

When he found out that Holland didn't have lunch, he sent for a Snickers candy bar.

Holland ate the candy, responded with 17 points in the second half and the Lady Pounders earned their first region tournament berth since the mid 1990s. It was Central's first tournament victory in District 6-AAA.

"Barbara got that Snickers in her and stuck it to them defensively in the second half,'' Rogers said. "She had 17 points in the second half, and that Snickers was worth at least 14 of those.''

Holland, who finished with a game-high 24 points, didn't play basketball until two years ago.

"I found her in the hallway and asked if she had ever played basketball,'' Rogers said. "Now, she loves the game.''

Before Rogers took over the program four years ago, Central went four seasons without a victory. The Lady Pounders (6-20) won only two games two years ago and three last year.

"I'm so proud of these girls,'' Rogers said. "I think we're the most improved team in town. We work hard daily. We're constantly teaching them to play with a great attitude and to make it happen.

"We don't have any great basketball players, just girls who want to win. I really think we have the program headed in the right direction.''

Kristen Weickert added 17 points for Central. Kelby Jones paced Soddy-Daisy (8-19) with 17 points and Emily Hutchins added 14.

Central made 20 of 38 free throws, including 11 of 23 in the fourth quarter. Soddy-Daisy made 18 of 21.

With Central leading, 43-42, Holland made back-to-back field goals. She made two more key free throws down the stretch.

Lakeisha Dupree made a free throw with 23 seconds left to give Central a 51-50 lead. Cristy Land made another to push the margin to 52-50 with 11 seconds remaining. Soddy-Daisy then missed a shot at the buzzer.

"That was really a good win for us,'' Rogers said. "Now, we regroup and get ready for tomorrow.''

6-AAA TOURNAMENT SUMMARIES

Girls

Central (52) -- Barbara Holland 24, Cecilia Ringer 1, Ragan Elliott 4, Gabrielle Bloodsaw, Lakeisha Dupree 5, Kristen Weickert 17, Cristy Land 1, Eboni Shelton.

SODDY-DAISY (50) -- Christy Combs, Lyndsay Stiles 2, Lacie Linz, Kelby Jones 17, Jessica Shelton, Jessica Huffman 9, Emily Hutchins 14, Megan Walker 4, Chelsea Clements 2, Casey Keelen 2.

Central......9..11..12..20 -- 52
Soddy-Daisy..8..10..15..17 -- 50

Three-point goals -- Hutchins 2, Holland, Weikert.

Boys

SODDY-DAISY (64) -- Ryan Goodwin, Charles McCall, Josh McAlpin 4, Tyler Worley 2, Russell McNeil 19, Derek Rende 21, Chris Ricketts, Eric Atchley, Zack Crawford 9, Jared Dobbs 9, Kamau Rush.

CENTRAL (51) -- Jeremy Harden 16, D.J. McAllister 2, Dominique Jones 20, Darrius Robinson 3, Gary Bloodsaw 3, Kenny Patton, Lorenzo Meadows 7.

Central.......5..19..10..17 -- 51
Soddy-Daisy..14..11..20..15 -- 64

Three-point goals -- Jones 3, McNeil 3, Rende 3, Harden.

(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)

For a complete list of tonight's scores check our Prep Scores link. It is updated each evening as scores are reported. You can see updated tournament schedules on our Prep Scheduleslink.

Soddy-Daisy's Lindsay Stiles brings the ball up the court.
- Photo2 by Greg Davick