Tuesday was the opening day for high school basketball and there were several games played in the Scenic City, including four girls games at Soddy Daisy.
The GPS Bruisers won both of their games while Soddy Daisy and Notre Dame both went 1-1. Red Bank got beat twice.
Soddy Daisy beat Notre Dame in the opening contest by a 46-41 final in the closest game of the day while GPS followed with a 50-27 win over Red Bank. The Lionettes came up short again in the third game by 73-46 against Notre Dame before GPS defeated Soddy Daisy by 44-23 in the final game of the evening.
Soddy Daisy 46, Notre Dame 41: The Lady Trojans were hot out of the gate and built a 17-6 lead after one quarter. Notre Dame kept chipping away and cut the margin to 25-18 at halftime before making it 29-28 with one quarter remaining.
The Lady Irish stayed within striking distance in the final minutes, but were never able to take the lead as the final four minutes turned into a free throw contest.
The Lady Trojans could have made it a bit easier on themselves by doing better at the charity stripe as they only sank 11 of 20 in the final 3:25, but that was more than enough.
“I really feel like we’ve been hitting our stride in recent days and I felt like we finished strong in that game,” said Soddy Daisy coach Drew Lyness afterward.
“It’s always nice to start off the season with a win. It was an ugly win, but we’ll take it. We were ready to compete against someone other than ourselves,” he added.
Summer Ghaffari finished with 19 points to lead the Lady Trojans while Alexis Trimiar was next with eight. Bella Bombassi finished with a dozen to lead Notre Dame.
GPS 50, RED BANK 27: It didn’t take long for the Bruisers to take charge as a 10-5 lead after the first quarter expanded to 25-10 at intermission. A 14-7 advantage in the third quarter totally settled the issue.
“I felt like we played with a lot of passion and energy. I was happy with the effort,” said GPS coach Wes Moore following the game.
“We did a lot of good stuff defensively and did a much better job rebounding than we’ve been doing. We shot the ball with a lot of confidence and the results showed, but we did a really good job for the most part,” he added.
Brooke McCurdy had the hot hand for GPS as she finished with 24 points, including six 3-point shots. Hannah Sanders was next with eight while Mackenzie Jennings finished with seven points.
Layla Babb was the only player for Red Bank in double figures as she finished with 10 points while teammates Jasmine Roberts, Dasha Brown and Mya Kennebrew all finished with five.
NOTRE DAME 73, RED BANK 46: The Lionettes bolted to a 5-2 lead in the early going and it looked like the Lady Irish might be in for another tough game, but just as quickly, the girls in green started finding their mark and had turned that early deficit into a 25-13 lead when the first quarter ended.
The Lady Irish never backed down and enjoyed a scoring advantage in the following three quarters, including a 20-10 difference in the fourth when what had been a fairly close game turned into a blowout.
“We arrived about 10 minutes before our first game and weren’t ready to play, but we had a lot more energy in that last game,” said Notre Dame coach Jason Hill afterward.
“We have a bunch of new faces on this team and we’re still trying to figure out the best combinations, but we showed a lot more energy in that second game. It’s still a dress rehearsal as these games don’t count, but we certainly didn’t want to leave here with two losses,” he added.
Red Bank coach Bailey McGinniss, who is now the proud mother of a beautiful four-month old daughter named Collins, realizes it’s still really early and that it’s a long season.
“I’m glad it’s still early. I’m not pleased with what I saw, but it’s only November 15. We just have to turn negatives into positives as we’re really raw right now,” she expressed.
“We had spurts where we played well, but what we need to do is increase the length of those spurts. We know what we need to work on. We have a lot of potential, but that’s all we have at this point,” she concluded.
KeeKee Ball led the way for Notre Dame with 18 points while teammate Laura Rabuano was also in double figures with 15.
Babb had 14 points for Red Bank while Haley Clairborne sank four from long range and finished with a dozen.
GPS 44, SODDY DAISY 23: McCurdy sank both of her 3-pointers in the opening quarter to give GPS a slim 6-5 lead at the first break, but it wasn’t close after that as GPS had a 30-7 advantage in the next two stanzas.
Soddy Daisy had an 11-8 edge in the final eight minutes, but the outcome had long been determined by that point.
“It’s been a good night for GPS basketball,” Moore said following the final contest.
“I’m really proud of how we played two games in a row. We were all freshmen and sophomores last year, so to see the progress we’ve made really excites me, but it was a total team effort.
“This was a most beneficial day for us in terms of gaining experience, but I felt like we dug in and really got after it,” he added.
“I think we ran out of legs,” said Lyness following the last game.
“We have a young team, including six with no varsity experience, so it was good to get them some time on the floor. Our first game with Notre Dame was a battle, but we didn’t shoot very well in that last one and simply had a hard time scoring,” he added.
J.J. Dunnigan had 13 points to lead the GPS offense in that last game while McCurdy finished with eight. Lindsay Wyatt was next with seven points.
Trimiar was the leader for Soddy Daisy with six points. Emilee Dent and Katie Hamby were next with five points each.
NOTRE DAME 6 12 10 13 -- 41
SODDY DAISY 17 8 4 17 -- 46
NOTRE DAME (41) – Sheppard, Brown 4, Ball 5, Raabe, Ford 7, Sims, Rabuano 3, Bombassi 12, Siler 5, Johnson 6.
SODDY DAISY (46) – Dent 4, Ghaffari 19, Trimiar 8, Williams 4, Pruett 4, Prestwood 2, Hall 4, Hamby 1, Davis.
3-POINT GOALS – Notre Dame 3 (Ball, Rabuano, Siler); Soddy Daisy 1 (Williams).
GPS 10 15 14 11 -- 50
RED BANK 5 5 7 10 -- 27
GPS (50) – Wyatt 3, Dunnigan 4, Jennings 7, Smith, Priest 4, McCurdy 24, Wamler, Conover, Sanders 8, Beaman.
RED BANK (27) – Roberts 5, Babb 10, Stallings, Romans, Brown 5, Kennebrew 5, Bowens, Ndiayhe, Stewart 2.
3-POINT GOALS: GPS 7 (McCurdy 6, Wyatt); Red Bank 4 (Roberts, Babb 2, Brown).
NOTRE DAME 25 11 17 20 -- 73
RED BANK 13 8 15 10 -- 46
NOTRE DAME (73) – Sheppard 4, Brown 6, Ball 18, Raabe 4, Ford 6, Sims 4, Rabuano 12, Bombassi 7, Siler 5, Johnson 4.
RED BANK (46) – Roberts 2, Babb 14, Romans 4, Brown 4, Clairborne 12, Evers, Kennebrew 8, Bowens 2, Ndiaye, Stewart.
3-POINT GOALS: Notre Dame 4 (Rabuano 3, Siler); Red Bank 5 (Babb, Clairborne 4).
GPS 6 13 17 8 -- 44
SODDY DAISY 5 2 5 11 -- 23
GPS (44) – Wyatt 7, Dunnigan 13, Jennings 4, Smith 1, Priest 3, McCurdy 8, Wamler 2, Conover, Sanders 5, Beaman 1.
SODDY DAISY (23) – Dent 5, M. Davis, Kearney, Ghaffari 3, Trimiar 6, Williams 3, Pruett, Prestwood, Hall 1, Hamby 5, B. Davis.
3-POINT GOALS: GPS 4 (Wyatt, Priest, McCurdy 2); Soddy Daisy 2 (Williams, Hamby).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)