Unbeaten McCallie Beats Central For Hixson Holiday Title

Maryville Heritage Beats GPS For Girls Championship

  • Monday, December 22, 2014
  • John Hunt

The Christmas break is officially here for Chattanooga area high school basketball teams, but they had to crown a couple of champions in the Fiber Optic Holiday Tournament at Hixson Monday night before the break could begin.

The Maryville Heritage Lady Mountaineers defeated GPS by a convincing 78-57 difference in the girls championship while the McCallie Blue Tornado remained unbeaten after a dozen games with a 67-54 win over Central in the boys title game.

The Central girls beat Boyd-Buchanan by a 63-59 margin in the consolation game while the Station Camp Bison outlasted Maryville Heritage by 45-39 in the third-place game for the guys.

There are no games scheduled for the  next three days, but the GPS girls and Central boys will be at Chattanooga State for the Best of Preps tournament on Friday while McCallie will be at Pigeon Forge for the King of the Smokies tournament.

HERITAGE GIRLS 78, GPS 57: The Lady Mountaineers are now 12-1 going into the break as they used a strong surge in the second and third quarters to overcome an early lead by the Bruisers.

Akia Harris, the heart and soul of the GPS squad both on offense and defense, canned a jumper from the wing to give the Bruisers a 16-8 lead with 2:29 left in the first quarter, but Harris suffered a slight ankle injury on the play and spent most of the next quarter getting tended to on the GPS bench.

By the time Harris came back in and sank the first of two free throws with 1:51 showing in the half, Heritage had turned that eight-point deficit into a 10-point lead and it never got much closer.

Heritage finished the first quarter on a 12-2 run for a 20-18 lead at the first break, but Leah Thomas got the hot hand and settled the issue before the half as she scored half of her game-high 28 points in that span as the Lady Mountaineers took a commanding 47-32 lead into the dressing room at intermission.

The biggest lead was 30 points following a layup by Maddie Sutton two minutes into the fourth quarter as the difference was 73-43 at that point.

Heritage coach Rick Howard liked the result and he was pleased with the way his girls played, but he's still searching for an answer for his team's habit of getting off to slow starts.

"We didn't get started very well, but I thought we played really hard the entire game," he said following the game.

"We took advantage of our opportunity when their best player (Harris) went out, but we came together and played pretty well.  For some reason we don't play well in the first quarter and I guess it has to do with coaching, but our two seniors took charge and carried us tonight," he said in praise of Kassi Knight and Thomas.

GPS coach Jennifer Williams knows that her team depends too much on Harris at times.  That was certainly the case Monday night.

"It seems like we use her as a security blanket, but these girls are going to have to learn how to play when she's not in the game.  She's everywhere in our system both on offense and defense.

"But we played terrible defense as Heritage took advantage of our lack of reaction.  We didn't rebound and just didn't play good fundamental basketball.  We just didn't guard anybody," she added.

Thomas finished with 28 points to lead the Lady Mountaineers, including seven 3s.  Knight followed with 19 while Sutton was next with 12.

Brooke McCurdy scored 18 points to lead GPS, now 9-4.  Kara Ware was next  with 11 while Harris added 10, including seven in the first quarter.

Sutton and Thomas both had seven rebounds unofficially while Knight grabbed six.  Reagan Williams had four to lead GPS.

McCALLIE 67, CENTRAL 54: The Hixson gym wasn't packed for the girls game, but by the time these two squared off, it was standing room only and for good reason.

Central scored five straight points for a 20-18 lead when the first quarter ended before McCallie regained the advantage with a 36-33 lead at the half.

A steal and reverse layup by Ryan Montgomery allowed Central to tie the score at 48 when the horn sounded to end the third stanza.

Montgomery scored the first bucket of the final quarter and his free throw 16 seconds later gave the Purple Pounders a 51-50 lead with 7:21 to play.

Shawn McColley converted a three-point play the old-fashioned way at the 7:08 mark to give the Blue Tornado a 53-51 lead and McCallie never trailed again.

A 3 by Adrian Thomas followed by two free throws by Junior Clay extended the difference to 59-52 with 4:54 to play.

The Pounders lost all hope for a comeback five seconds later when Montgomery was whistled for his fifth foul and the difference was 10 points when Jordan Atkins converted the three-point play.

Kevin McKenzie's drive from the wing at the 3:02 mark got Central to within 64-54, but the Pounders didn't score again at McCallie finished with a field goal from Alex Clark and another free throw by Atkins.

"That was a war," stated McCallie coach John Shulman after the final horn had sounded and his team had received the first-place award.

"We have a lot of depth as we play everyone on our roster and that's how we beat most people as we finally find their breaking point.  It took us a while to find it with Central, but it really hurt them when the Montgomery kid fouled out.

"But we don't have any egos on this team and no real superstar, but they all love McCallie and we're just trying to keep getting better," Shulman added.

Central coach Rick Rogers knew ahead of time that McCallie's depth might be a problem for his team that has already lost three players to season-ending injuries.

"I didn't think we had a lot of problems breaking their press, but it takes a toll on you physically in the second half.  I felt like we could stay with them for 24 or 25 minutes, but that press finally caught up with us.

"We gave it all we had, but it was the ball game when Montgomery fouled out.  Physically we had to have him, but McCallie was just too much to handle tonight.  It was a great game for the fans and John has his kids playing well, but a game like this will surely help us on down the road," Rogers added.

Thomas was tops for McCallie with 16 points as 13 Blue Tornado players scored.  JaVaughn Craig scored nine points in the third quarter and finished with a dozen.

Montgomery finished with 28 for Central, including a dozen points in the third quarter.  Tre Tiller and Terron Hayes were next with eight points apiece.

McCallie ended the game with a 31-28 advantage on the boards, including a 20-10 difference in the second half.

Alex Clark and Atkins both had six for McCallie while Montgomery had nine to lead Central.

 IN THE CONSOLATION GAMES, the Central girls used a 26-12 difference in the third quarter as a springboard for its comeback against Boyd-Buchanan.

Sandrea Sylman, who had 22 points to lead the Lady Pounders, had 12 in that crucial third stanza.  Teammate Rebekah Hill followed with 15 while Miracle Miller and Markisha Davis scored eight apiece.

"This was a tale of two halves, but we live and die with our defense," said Central coach Rick May after his team had improved to 7-3.

"Rebekah Hill was a key as she had two big 3s in the fourth quarter that put us over the hump," he added.

Maddie Wright had 19 points and Marisa McCalla 16 to lead the Lady Bucs.  Chander Hiland and Logan Highfield were next with nine and eight points, respectively.

Station Camp used a 12-5 advantage in the fourth quarter to beat Heritage as the Bison improved to 11-2 with the win.

Keaton Dotson had 10 points for the winners while Kyle Anderton had nine and Kody Eden eight.  Blake Ervin had 16 for Heritage while Keenan Berger finished with 13.

GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMARY

GPS      18  14  11  14  --  57

HERITAGE  20  27  19  12  --  78

GPS (57) -- Harris 10, McCurdy 18, Williams 4, Hubbard 2, Dunigan 8, Jennings, Ware 11, Hudson 4.

HERITAGE (78) -- Thomas 28, Knight 19, Hutsell 8, Wolfe 2, Sutton 12, Gardner 4, Evans 2, Ratlery 2, Brackett, Moore 2, Hurd, Garcia, Carnes 1, Jones.

3-POINT GOALS: GPS 5 (Harris, McCurdy 4); Heritage 10 (Thomas 7, Knight, Hutsell 2).

BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMARY

McCALLIE  18  18  12  19  --  67

CENTRAL  20  13  15  6  --  54

McCALLIE (67) -- A. Clark 4, Watson 3, Craig 12, Clay 5, Thomas 16, Hewitt, Edge 2, S. Clark 4, Hunt 3, Atkins 6, Riddle 4, McColley 3, Novell, Hightower, McDonald 3, Curtis 2.

CENTRAL (54) -- McKenzie 2, Tiller 8, Billingsley, Hayes 8, Montgomery 28, Benford 1, Poole 4, Swafford, Lane 3.

3-POINT GOALS: McCallie 7 (Craig 3, Thomas 3, Hunt); Central  3 (Tiller, Hayes, Lane).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@Comcast.net)

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