Lady Canes Wallop Lady Mustangs, 54-30, In District 5-3A Tourney

Hayes' POY Stat Line: 25 Points, 16 Rebounds, 6 Assists, 5 Steals, 3 Blocks

  • Thursday, February 14, 2019
  • Larry Fleming
East Hamilton's Madison Hayes slips past Walker Valley's Abbey Davis and Tasia Roberts for a shot Thursday night in the District 5-3A basketball tournament at Soddy-Daisy High School. Hayes finished with 25 points and 16 rebounds and one of her six assists was a 70-foot "baseball pass" to her sister, McKenna, that was something to behold.
East Hamilton's Madison Hayes slips past Walker Valley's Abbey Davis and Tasia Roberts for a shot Thursday night in the District 5-3A basketball tournament at Soddy-Daisy High School. Hayes finished with 25 points and 16 rebounds and one of her six assists was a 70-foot "baseball pass" to her sister, McKenna, that was something to behold.
photo by Dennis Norwood

Voting for postseason honors by basketball coaches in District 5-3A is often perplexing, but they sure got one thing right at a meeting to finalize plans for the postseason tournament.

They selected East Hamilton’s Madison Hayes as Player of the Year.

Decide for yourself if this is a POY stat line from Thursday night.

Twenty-five points on 10-of-19 shooting that included two 3s in four attempts. She was 3-for-4 at the free-throw line.

Sixteen rebounds, nine off the defensive glass.

Six assists, and one was so astonishing that many fans needed an instant replay to verify it.

Five steals.

Three blocks.

Considering being involved in so much on-court action, Hayes committed only two turnovers. And Walker Valley’s defense was going after her hard.

To stretch the phenomenal to its breaking point, Hayes, a junior being recruited by 30 something colleges, sat out the final 4:51 of the second quarter with three fouls. And, she went to the bench with 2:29 left in the game, her mission complete.

“When Madison got her third foul, I told her to keep her head up and just play smart,” said Dezah Lacy, who scored 16 points. “To do what she did tonight doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Hayes’ sterling performance helped the No. 3 seed Lady Hurricanes (19-11) blitz Walker Valley 20-0 in the third quarter, outscore their opponent 34-8 in the second half and eventually walloped the sixth-seeded Lady Mustangs, 54-30, in the district tournament at Soddy-Daisy High School.

“That’s great. Wow!” said Hayes, sporting a new hairdo. “Some teams will box-and-one me trying to cut down me scoring, but my teammates still free me up for shots. That’s the gratifying part’ my teammates help a lot when I do these things.”

With the win, East Hamilton, which scored the first 27 points in a 62-42 win over McMinn County on Feb. 1 (Hayes scored 27 points in that game), earned a spot in Saturday’s semifinals against No. 2 seed Cleveland at 6 p.m.

In Thursday’s second game, McMinn County’s No. 6 seed boys defeated No. 3 Walker Valley, 62-58, and move on to the semifinals to face the No. 2 Cleveland Blue Raiders (23-4) at 7:30 p.m.

Back to the spotlight on Hayes.

East Hamilton coach Hunter Gremore’s impression of his star player’s effort was somewhat muted.

“A lot of people will look at the stat line and go, ‘Oh, my gosh,’” he said. “It’s no surprise to us. Yeah, it’s unbelievable for some, but it’s normal for Madison.”

The Lady Canes went up 7-0 only to see the Lady Mustangs score 13 of the next 15 points for a four-point first-quarter lead.

Hayes was already on a double-double trajectory with seven points and nine rebounds. She added four points and one rebound in her abbreviated second period and Walker Valley had a 22-20 halftime advantage.

“I told the girls before the game that tournament basketball is a totally different animal,” Gremore said. “No team wants its season to end. Walker Valley will not lay down. They’re going to fight us all night.”

Well, Walker Valley, while confident early on, was totally shocked at what happened in the third quarter.

One omen was Hayes being back in the Lady Canes’ lineup.

She got a steal and raced down court for a 10-foot running back shot 18 seconds after the halftime tip. Lacy made a transition layup. Hayes grabbed a rebound and whipped a long outlet pass to her sister, McKenna, for another layup. Madison Hayes got a steal and assisted Lacy on a driving layup. The same duo teamed up again a play later and East Hamilton’s run was 10-0.

Then, the slap-my-face-did-that-really-happen play happened.

After an errant Lady Mustang shot, Madison controlled the ball on the left side of the court.

She spun to her left and rifled a baseball throw on a clothesline an estimated 70 feet, an absolutely perfect chest-high strike to McKenna, standing one foot from the rim. McKenna effortlessly put the ball off the glass for a layup and the spurt was 12-0.

“I played softball in middle school and I was a catcher,” Madison said. “That was a good throw and I’m glad McKenna was down there ready to catch it. It’s just a connection we have. As soon as I got the ball, I knew she would be down the floor and it’s just instinct for me to throw that pass at her.”

If her sister, a promising freshman in her own right, had not caught the pass it may have knocked her to the ground.

It was, in short, a thing of basketball beauty.

“That was outstanding,” Walker Valley coach Paul Cretton said. “She’s a very talented player and caused us trouble all over the floor on offense and defense.”

Why did Hayes give up softball?

“It was about my knees,” she said. “I was growing pretty fast and all that bending down and coming back up started to hurt my knees. I’m still growing and feel like basketball and volleyball (she’s an all-district performer in that sport too) are better for me.”

After the scintillating pass and catch play, Lacy hit a lane floater, Hayes got a rebound and fed Eliziah Laboo down low for a bucket, Hayes hit two free throws and dished another assist to Emily Petitt for a bucket at the buzzer, completing the 20-point run.

“That was an impressive quarter,” Gremore said. “We switched to a 1-3-1 zone defense and started making some shots. Everything (Walker Valley) got was rushed or there was someone there. We didn’t give them any clean looks.”

Michelle Benson ended the Lady Mustangs’ scoring drought with a field goal, but Hayes scored eight of the next 12 points as East Hamilton stretched the scored to 52-24 and the eye-dropping spurt to 32-2.

After knocking down a turnaround jumper, Hayes played another 40-plus seconds before going to the sideline to drop the curtain on another exceptional performance.

“Our whole thing this week has been don’t panic,” Gremore said. “Just keep playing.”

Now the Lady Canes turn their attention to Cleveland, which swept the regular-season series with 61-37 and 48-46. East Hamilton was short-handed in the first game, but full strength in the second.

“The only thing coach Gremore really said to us at halftime was, ‘Good job on the season or we can go play Cleveland on Saturday,’” Hayes said. “We didn’t want our season to end tonight, so we’re going to go back and get ready to beat Cleveland.”

McMinn County boys 62, Walker Valley 58: The Cherokees (10-15) beat No. 7 Soddy-Daisy, 81-39, on Wednesday and faced a tougher assignment against the Mustangs (20-6).

It was a hard-fought game from start to finish. McMinn led 29-27 at the half, but the Mustangs was out front 45-44 going into the fourth period.

Sophomore Tyler Peel, who scored 26 points against Soddy-Daisy, put up seven of his 16 points on Thursday, in the fourth quarter as the Cherokees rallied to stay alive in the tournament. Jalen James paced McMinn with 19 points.

Noah Duprey’s 13 points led Walker Valley. Luke Wallace had 12 and Jordan Munck added 10.

Scoring Summaries

Girls Game

Walker Valley                   13 9 0 8 – 30

East Hamilton                  9 11 20 14 – 54

Walker Valley (30) – Fowler, Cayce Davis 11, Baker 6, Rue 2, Harris 2, Roberts, Benson 2, Gibson 3, Bentley 2, Patel 2.

East Hamilton (54) – Patton, Dezah Lacy 16, Madison Hayes 25, Mc. Hayes 7, Laboo 4, Petitt 2, Evans, Johnson, Copeland, Sue.

3-Point Goals – Walker Valley 4 (Baker 2, Davis 1, Gibson 1), East Hamilton 3 (Ma. Hayes 2, Mc. Hayes 1).

Boys Game

McMinn County               16 13 15 17 – 62

Walker Valley                   12 15 18 13 – 58

McMinn County (62) – Daniel 3, Sharp 6, Wilson 5, Runyan 7, Jalen James 19, Elkins 6, Tyler Peel 16.

Walker Valley (58) – Jordan Munck 10, Davis 5, Noah Duprey 13, Luke Wallace 12, Smith, Berger, Sausville, Belau 3, Campbell 9, Duke 6.  

3-Point Goals – McMinn County 2 (James 1, Elkins 1), Walker Valley 3 (Campbell 2, Belau 1)

Friday’s Schedule

Ooltewah girls vs McMinn County, 6 p.m.

Bradley Central boys vs. Ooltewah, 7:30 p.m.

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)



Dezah Lacy (3) of East Hamilton fights past pressure defense from a Walker Valley player in their District 5-3A basketball tournament Thursday night. Lacy scored 16 points in the Lady Hurricanes' 54-30 victory. They play Cleveland on Saturday in the semifinals. Both teams are already assured of a spot in the Region 3-3A tournament.
Dezah Lacy (3) of East Hamilton fights past pressure defense from a Walker Valley player in their District 5-3A basketball tournament Thursday night. Lacy scored 16 points in the Lady Hurricanes' 54-30 victory. They play Cleveland on Saturday in the semifinals. Both teams are already assured of a spot in the Region 3-3A tournament.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Sports
Mocs Houk Named SoCon Golfer Of The Week
  • 3/27/2024

Chattanooga Mocs senior John Houk claimed this week’s Southern Conference Golfer of the Week honor with an impressive runner-up performance at the General Hackler Championships. The Athens, Tenn., ... more

UTC Homecoming Set For October 26
  • 3/27/2024

The Chattanooga Mocs completed spring drills prior to Spring Break and are now deep into strength and conditioning work ahead of the summer in preparation for the fall season. One highlight to ... more

Chapman's 5 RBIs Lead Vols To Run-Rule Win Over Tennessee Tech
  • 3/27/2024

A five-RBI game from Reese Chapman and impressive group effort from the pitching staff highlighted No. 5/5 Tennessee's 11-1 run-rule victory over in-state foe Tennessee Tech on Tuesday night ... more