The championship pairings are set for the annual Best of Preps basketball tournament at Chattanooga State.
It will be Baylor against Signal Mountain in Saturday night’s girls final at 7 while Baylor and McCallie will battle for boys honors in the final game around 8:30.
Baylor’s girls beat Sequatchie County in the first semifinal contest by a 53-34 final while Signal Mountain needed an overtime to defeat Red Bank, 46-41.
McCallie beat Brainerd by a 66-45 in the first boys semifinal while Baylor defeated East Hamilton by a 70-55 in a rematch of last year’s boys championship game.
Saturday’s action begins at 10 a.m. with a pair of games for seventh place, the first pitting Brainerd against GPS and the second involving the Ooltewah and Notre Dame boys.
Fifth-place games have Notre Dame’s girls facing Silverdale and Stewart’s Creek versus Red Bank’s boys.
Third-place games have Sequatchie County facing the Red Bank girls while Brainerd and East Hamilton will meet in a consolation boys game.
Earlier consolation results from Friday had Notre Dame’s girls beating Brainerd by a 73-32 final and the Silverdale girls beating GPS, 54-32. Stewart’s Creek beat Ooltewah’s boys by a 61-51 final while Red Bank outscored Notre Dame, 43-34.
BAYLOR GIRLS 53, SEQUATCHIE CO. 34: Peyton Longson gave the Lady Indians an early lead with a layup before Baylor answered with buckets from Bella White and Raegyn Conley.
The game was tied two more times at 4-4 and 7-7, but the Lady Red Raiders finished the quarter on a 6-1 run and the Lady Indians never got any closer.
Conley scored a dozen of her game-high 21 points in the second quarter as Baylor’s lead stretched to 36-16 at intermission.
“It wasn’t a masterpiece, but we’ll take it,” said Baylor coach John Gibson after his girls improved to 11-4 with the win.
“I’m never totally happy as I’m a tough guy to please, but we played well enough to win and that’s all that matters,” he added.
While Conley led Baylor with 21, Cadasia Collins followed with a dozen.
Longson and Hallie Barger topped Sequatchie with seven points apiece while Addy Edgmon finished with six.
Baylor also had an unofficial 32-17 edge in rebounds with Conley grabbing six. Kortney Restelli, Kailee Johnson and White all had five while Barger, Edgmon and Longson all had four for the Lady Indians.
McCALLIE BOYS 66, BRAINERD 45: The Blue Tornado got off to a roaring start by scoring 13 of the first 15 points en route to a 28-12 lead after the opening stanza and Brainerd never threatened.
A 9-0 run early in the fourth quarter gave McCallie a 24-point advantage at 59-35 following a layup by Trey Hamilton with 5:15 to play, but it was another putback by Hamilton that extended the biggest lead to 66-37 in the final minute.
Jonte Williams scored eight points in the final stretch to make the final margin 21 points.
“Brainerd is always one of the toughest teams in the city, so I’m really proud of how we stuck in there with them,” said McCallie coach Dave Conrady after his team improved to 6-8 with the win.
“I’m really pleased with how we came out as our defense was really good at the beginning. We got some great looks, but we hung in there and finished,” the veteran coach added.
Eric Rivers scored 18 points to lead the McCallie attack while Joryam Saizonov, Wright Self and Hamilton all scored eight points apiece.
Kelvin Halfacre Jr. had 13 points for the Panthers while Williams followed with 12.
McCallie had an unofficial 32-24 edge in rebounds with Jay Hardy and David Craig grabbing seven each for the Blue Tornado. Deaunte Crawford claimed eight for Brainerd.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN GIRLS 46, RED BANK 41 (OT): The Lady Lions used a 13-6 advantage in the second quarter to turn a 13-11 deficit into a 24-19 lead at the half.
Savannah Washington sank the first of two free throws to start the fourth quarter for a 32-23 Red Bank lead, but the wheels completely fell off for the Lady Lions after that.
Washington scored on a short jumper in the lane with 2:40 left in regulation, but the Lady Eagles finished the quarter on a 11-2 run to force the extra period.
By the time Arteya Scott scored with 1:03 left, the Lady Eagles had scored nine straight points and had the game under control and going their way.
Scott sank a 3 from the wing with 11 seconds left to get Red Bank within 44-41 before Lamiah Walker put the game out of reach with two free throws with 2.1 seconds to play.
“We shot it horribly and really didn’t play well in any phase of the game, but somehow we found a way to win and that’s what I’m most proud of,” said Signal Mountain coach Kendra Bell after her team improved to 12-3 with their second win over the Lady Lions this season.
“I’ve always preached that solid defense and rebounding will keep you in most games. We finally hit a shot and then another, which really helped our confidence, but it definitely wasn’t pretty. We changed our defense and made some big plays at the end and that was the difference,” Bell added.
Red Bank coach Bailey McGinnis could only shake her head when the final horn sounded.
“We wanted to slow it down once we had that nine-point lead, but we started playing too much individual ball and they didn’t listen to me,” she said after her team’s record dropped to 12-4.
“You don’t win games playing like that, but they were more concerned about getting their points than winning the game. We were up by nine in the fourth quarter and just didn’t execute like I wanted. It’s so frustrating,” she added.
Olivia Koontz and Walker both scored a dozen points to lead the Lady Eagles while Jaylah Hardy had 11, including seven in that critical run in the fourth quarter. Hardy also had eight rebounds, six assists and four steals to help her team.
Scott had 16 points to lead Red Bank while Washington and Bailey Lee were next with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
BAYLOR BOYS 70, EAST HAMILTON 55: Baylor scored the first eight points of the game in the opening two and a half minutes and never trailed as the difference was 21-12 after the first stanza.
Marcus Long scored on a layup to get the Hurricanes within four at 23-19 with 5:25 in the half before Baylor finished the half on a 12-5 run for an 11-point lead at intermission.
East Hamilton pushed the pace and forced the Red Raiders to perhaps play a bit faster than they would have liked, but every time the Hurricanes started a run, Baylor would answer.
A putback by Nick Kurtz with two minutes to play gave Baylor its biggest lead at 70-53.
Baylor coach Mark Price admitted that East Hamilton pushed his team a little bit out of its comfort zone, but he was pleasantly surprised with how well they handled the pressure.
“We competed well, but we weren’t able to finish like I had hoped,” he began just outside the Baylor dressing room.
“The key for us was our ability to keep our composure, but our guards moved the ball with confidence. Gehrig Ebel and Eli Sparkman both hit some big shots and I was proud of our offensive execution. Our defense wasn’t as good as I would have liked, but the effort was there and we have another great group of competitive kids,” the second-year Baylor coach praised.
Kurtz was a one-man wrecking crew for Baylor as he finished with 24 points and 15 rebounds. His effort down low allowed Baylor to have an unofficial 27-21 edge on the boards.
Sparkman and Ebel were also in double figures with 13 and 12 points, respectively, as they both sank four shots from beyond the arc. Al Peciulis also had 13 winners for the Red Raiders.
Long had 16 points to lead the Hurricanes while Darwin Randolph followed with 13.
GIRLS SEMIFINAL SUMMARIES
BAYLOR 13 23 11 6 -- 53
SEQUATCHIE CO. 8 8 15 3 -- 34
BAYLOR (53) – White 4, Restelli, Barton 5, Conley 21, Oleksik 2, Hughes, Collins 12, Martin 5, Johnson 4.
SEQUATCHIE CO. (34) – A. Edgmon 6, Barger 7, D. Belk 5, E. Edgmon 5, R. Belk 2, Condra 2, Beavers, Mitchell, Longson 7.
3-POINT GOALS: Baylor 7 (Barton, Conley 3, Collins 3); Sequatchie Co. 3 (Barger, D. Belk, E. Edgmon).
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 13 6 4 11 12 -- 46
RED BANK 11 13 7 3 7 -- 41
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (46) – Maddox 2, Hanson 3, Kennedy 4, Hardy 11, Walker 12, Sitton, McCarter, Koontz 12.
RED BANK (41) – Washington 12, Loher, Crafton, Scott 16, Bell 2, Lee 11, Ware.
3-POINT GOALS: Signal Mountain 2 (Hanson, Hardy); Red Bank 3 (Scott 2, Lee).
BOYS SEMIFINAL SUMMARIES
McCALLIE 28 8 12 18 -- 66
BRAINERD 12 6 15 12 -- 45
McCALLIE (66) – Turner 5, Rivers 18, Saizonov 8, Self 8, Rankin 6, Elliott 3, Hamilton 8, Hardy 7, Craig 3.
BRAINERD (45) – Lewis 4, Wheeler 5, Halfacre 13, Williams 12, Crawford 2, Evans 7, Jackson 2.
3-POINT GOALS: McCallie 4 (Rivers, Rankin 2, Hardy); Brainerd 8 (Wheeler, Halfacre 2, Williams 3, Evans 2).
BAYLOR 21 14 18 17 -- 70
EAST HAMILTON 12 12 15 16 -- 55
BAYLOR (70) – Sparkman 13, Jean 2, Reap 6, Peciulis 13, Kurtz 24, Ebel 12, Johnson, Restelli, Morton, Martin, Haynie.
EAST HAMILTON (55) – Randolph 13, Shropshire 5, Long 16, Pendleton 2, Karajic 2, Harris 4, Eller 8, Mason 5, Caudle, Scruggs.
3-POINT GOALS: Baylor 9 (Sparkman 4, Peciulis, Ebel 4); East Hamilton 5 (Randolph, Long, Eller 2, Mason).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)