Tiffany Lewis has a reputation as a scoring machine, but that's not her only attribute..
The East Hamilton junior also can defend, helping to create havoc by forcing turnovers. Why, she’s practically a thief on the court.
Lewis did all those things -- and a little more – Friday night, including scoring a game-high 23 points, in leading the Lady Hurricanes, No. 1 seed from District 6-AA, to a 55-45 victory over Polk County in the opening round of the Region 3-AA basketball tournament at East Hamilton.
“Tiffany has been a solid player for three years,” East Hamilton coach Derek Morris said. “She’s really matured. It’s not just her scoring, her defense, the leadership, seeing the floor with and without the basketball, sneaking in there and getting some steals, it’s her whole game.”
A three-year starter, Lewis became the school’s first female player to score 1,000 points in the District 6-AA championship game against Red Bank, a game East Hamilton won, 48-35.
The 23 she added Friday gives her 1,024 career points and she was joined in double figures against the Wildkittens when Jessica Caudle scored 11.
“(Scoring 1,000 points) has been a goal of mine,” Lewis said. “I made it a goal as soon as I got to high school. I was hoping to do it in three years and I finally did it.”
The Lady Hurricanes (22-8), who have won six straight, advance to the 3-AA second round where they will play Sequoyah at 7:30 p.m. on Monday at East Ridge High School. Sequoyah walloped Tyner, 73-49.
Polk County, the No. 4 seed from District 5-AA, was led by Riley Hatcher’s 17 points and 11 by Maclain Yowarsy.
The Wildkittens end their season at 13-16.
Polk County, which lost three straight games to close the season, battled East Hamilton evenly for two quarters, going into halftime down by 25-21.
The Lady Hurricanes then turned up the heat defensively and outscored the visitors from Benton, Tenn., 13-5 to seize 21-15 lead with 2:43 left in the second quarter.
In that spurt, three of the Lady Hurricanes’ six field goals were the direct result of Polk County turnovers.
“They do a great job pressuring the basketball,” Polk County coach Johnny Hayes said. “They get big after you pick up the ball and they get their fingertips on everything. They just do a great job defensively.”
Hatcher hit a field goal and Emily Wilson converted a three-point play to give Polk a 26-25 lead 45 seconds into the third quarter only to watch the Lady Hurricanes score the game’s next eight points for a 33-26 advantage.
Polk County had trouble hitting any kind of shot over the next four minutes, but managed to make 6-of-7 free throws – three by Hatcher – to trim its deficit to 35-32. Hatcher hit a baseline jumper with 27.1 seconds left in the quarter, but Shay Scott’s Airyelle Belle’s 3-pointer from the left corner – her only points of the game – pushed East Hamilton’s lead to 38-34 going into the final quarter.
Lewis putback one of her own misses and Hatcher hit a free throw and East Hamilton’s lead was 40-39 with 5:55 remaining.
Caudle made one free throw, Lewis hit a field goal and Caudle added a driving layup and the Lady Hurricanes were up by 45-39 at the 4:53 mark.
Hatcher again connected for the Wildkittens with 4:07 left. That was Polk County’s last field goal of the game.
From 40-39, East Hamilton outscored Polk County 15-6 to close out the game as the Wildkittens turned the ball over three times and missed several shots after Morgan Greer’s two free throws with 3:08 left.
“We had some turnovers there, not so much forced turnovers but careless passes, that really hurt us,” Hayes said. “When you work hard to cut the lead down to one and then make those kinds of turnovers, it takes the wind out of you and it’s very difficult to get back into it.”
While the two teams didn’t play during the regular season, they did go against other a few times in summer camps and scrimmaged in preseason.
That familiarity clearly benefited the Lady Hurricanes more than the Wildkittens.
“We also watched one of their games against Meigs County,” Morris said. “They’ve got a lot of good shooters, but they tend to get a little turnover-prone under pressure. We wanted to get after them with our athleticism and quickness and hopefully get some turnovers.”
As much as she could have talked about her offense, Lewis seemed to light up when asked about the Lady Hurricanes’ defensive effort.
“Our defense really did good,” she said. “We pressured them and didn’t lay off them. We really wanted to pressure their shooters and that worked.”
BOXSCORE
Polk County (45) – Riley Hatcher 17, Emily Wilson 4, Natalie Miles 3, Rachel Epperson 6, Rosa Haynes, Morgan Greer 4, Maclain Yowarsy 11.
East Hamilton (55) – Jessica Caudle 11, Tiffany Lewis 23, Shay Scott 6, Kendra Ivins 2, Airyelle Belle 3, Brynn Moon 6, Kaylee Moon, Danielle Newton, Lexius Zackery, Jessica Dixon.
Polk County 8 13 13 11 – 45
East Hamilton 8 17 13 17 – 55
3-Point goals – Polk County 3 (Hatcher 2, Yowarsy 1); East Hamilton 1 (Belle).