No Upsets: Red Bank Girls, Tyner Boys Reign In 6-AA

Lady Lions Beat Signal Mountain; Rams Hold Off Howard

  • Tuesday, February 25, 2020
  • John Hunt
Tournament MVP Kobe Smith of Tyner is swarmed as he puts up a shot under the basket.
Tournament MVP Kobe Smith of Tyner is swarmed as he puts up a shot under the basket.
photo by M.A. Locke

There were no surprises in the championship round of the District 6-AA basketball tournament being played at Signal Mountain High School Tuesday night.

Both top seeded teams were victorious over the second seeds and neither were very close.

The Red Bank Lady Lions evened the season score at 2-2 with the Lady Eagles from Signal Mountain in a 45-34 victory while the Tyner Rams defeated the Howard Hustlin’ Tigers for the third time, the most recent by a 69-62 final.

All four of Tuesday’s finalists will play at home this weekend in the opening round of the region tournament with the girls playing on Friday and the guys on Saturday.

Red Bank will host Polk County and Signal Mountain will host Sweetwater while Tyner will host Polk County and Howard will host McMinn Central.  All are set for a 7 p.m. start.

RED BANK GIRLS 45, SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 34: The winning team in the previous three meetings this season had come from behind in the fourth quarter, so Signal Mountain coach Kendra Bell jokingly said at the tournament coaches meeting that she just wanted her team to be behind when the final stanza began.

The veteran coach got her wish, but unlike the other two where her team responded in a positive way, there was no comeback on Tuesday.

Red Bank coach Bailey McGinnis had put her team through some grueling workouts in preparation for this latest meeting and everything seemed to work as planned.

And all of that despite missing point guard and team quarterback Savannah Washington, who left the game early in the second quarter with an injured knee and never returned to action.

“I really didn’t know what to expect when Savannah got hurt as that was a turning point for us, but we came together and did what we had to do to win,” McGinnis said after her team improved to 25-5 overall.

“We wanted to slow the pace of the game down in the fourth quarter and to kill the clock, but we haven’t been very good this season playing with a nice lead.  But we came together as a  team and we knew what we had to do.  We’ve come a long way this season.

“Signal Mountain beat us in this tournament last year at our place, so I guess it was our turn to return the favor,” McGinnis concluded with a smile.

There was nothing happy about Bell’s expression following the game.  The Lady Eagles had a bad first half on Saturday in a semifinal game against Tyner and survived, but that wasn’t the case the second time around.

“We played really bad basketball tonight as we didn’t follow our game plan and were really sluggish from the start,” Bell said while the All-Tournament selections were being announced.

“We just didn’t come ready to play and that’s disappointing with us playing in our own gym.  It seemed like every time we got a little momentum, Red Bank would turn around and score, but it was just a bad night for us,” Bell added.

Jaylah Hardy sank a jumper from the wing to start the game, but Red Bank scored the next nine points and had a 9-2 lead when the first quarter ended.

Red Bank’s Raijeria Bell, who was named the tournament MVP, sank a 3 from the key with 5:48 to play in the first half to give the Lady Lions a 12-4 lead before the Lady Eagles rallied to tie with eight straight points.

The Lady Lions finished the half on a 7-3 run for a 19-15 lead at intermission.

Nobody really knew how Red Bank would respond in the second half with their motivational leader on the bench with an ice pack on her knee, but things seemed to work out just fine.

The Lady Lions opened the second half with five straight points for a 24-15 lead before Signal Mountain got within five on two free throws by Lamiah Walker and a layup by Hardy.  Just as quickly, Red Bank scored six straight for a 30-19 lead before a late free throw by Walker cut the deficit to 10 with one quarter remaining.

The Lady Eagles cut the lead to six with four straight points to start the final quarter, but it never got any closer as Red Bank was able to avoid a late comeback.

Red Bank’s biggest lead was a dozen points on four occasions in the final quarter.

Bell was the leader for Red Bank with 24 points, including 13 in the final half when the outcome was still in doubt.  Bailey Lee was next with nine.

Walker was tops for the Lady Eagles with 17 points before fouling out late.  Harmony McCarter and Hardy both finished with six.

Olivia Koontz, Signal’s leading scorer who averages almost 20 points a game, was held to a season-low two points, those coming on a pair of free throws at the start of the fourth quarter.

Red Bank also had an unofficial 34-28 rebounding advantage.  Arteya Scott only had two points, but she was tops on the boards with 11 caroms for the Lady Lions.  Lee had eight and Bell six.  Koontz had nine rebounds for Signal Mountain while Walker claimed five.

TYNER BOYS 69, HOWARD 62: The Hustlin’ Tigers bolted to a 12-2 lead in the opening five minutes of the game and still had a 14-10 lead when the first stanza ended, but the Rams were able to turn things around in the second quarter.

Meechie Bowens sank a long 3 with 2:10 left in the half for a 27-22 Howard lead, but the Rams finished the quarter on a 9-0 run for a 31-27 lead at the break.

Howard never regained the advantage.

Bowens sank another 3 in the opening minute of the second half to get Howard within three at 34-31, but it never got any closer as Tyner slowly pulled away.

The difference was 47-41 at the end of the third stanza.

Tyner’s biggest lead of 11 points happened twice in the final quarter, the last time at 62-51 following a three-point play by Keilan Holloway with 3:03 to play.

Tyner coach E’Jay Ward was just happy his team could beat one of their biggest rivals for the third straight time.

“We have always been a third quarter team, so there was no need to panic when we were behind in the first quarter,” Ward expressed.

“We were able to push through as we tried to focus on solid defense, boxing out and making free throws.  It’s nice to win this tournament championship, but it’s all about surviving and advancing.  We achieved one of our goals, but it’s a long way from over,” he added.

Howard coach James Talley was hoping his team could turn the tide on the Rams, but the third time simply wasn’t the charm.

“I just hope we’ll see them again.  One of our goals was to win the district tournament, but we stumbled, but that happens and it’s on to the next one,” Talley said following the game.

“I know we can play better than we did tonight.  We had to sit some of our key players in the first half with foul trouble, but we just have to be smarter with the ball.  We’ll go back to work and I’m glad we play at home on Saturday, but we aren’t done yet,” he concluded.

Tyner’s Smith was named the MVP after leading his team with 22 points and 14 rebounds.  Amarion Dillard and Holloway were also in double figures with a dozen points each.

Bowens was tops for Howard with 19 points while Kerrick Thorne was next with 18.  Dicorius Edwards was also in double figures for the Hustlin’ Tigers with 13.

GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMARY

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN  2  13  5  14  --  34

RED BANK  9  10  11  15  --  45

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (34) – Maddox, Hanson 3,  Kennedy, Hardy 6, Sitton, Walker 17, McCarter 6, Koontz 2.

RED BANK (45) – Washington 2, Loher, Scott 2, Ledford 6, Bell 24, Lee 9, Ware 2.

3-POINT GOALS: Signal Mountain 1 (Walker); Red Bank 3 (Bell 3).

GIRLS ALL-TOURNAMENT: Chihiro Nakata and Kirby Brown (Hixson); Tamyra Long and Jemiyah McKenzie (Tyner); Jaylah Hardy, Lamiah Walker and Olivia Koontz (Signal Mountain); Bailey Lee, Arteya Scott and MVP Raijeria Bell (Red Bank).

BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMARY

HOWARD  14  13  14  21  --  62

TYNER  10  21  16  22  --  69

HOWARD (62) – Sexton 1, Edwards 13, Thorne 18, Bowens 19, Fisher 3, Wilson, Hall, James 8, Dupree.

TYNER (69) – Smith 22, Dillard 12, Hambrick 6, Dozier 6, Holloway 12, Conyers 5, Ross 2, Sturkey 2, Gresham 2.

3-POINT GOALS: Howard 6 (Edwards, Thorne 2, Bowens 3); Tyner 1 (Hambrick).

BOYS ALL-TOURNAMENT: LaKerrick Ellison and Lucas Brown (Red Bank); Jonte Williams and Cameron Evans (Brainerd); Calvin James, Meechie Bowens and Kerrick Thorne (Howard); Kam Dozier, Amarion Dillard and MVP Kobe Smith (Tyner).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

Red Bank's Raijeria Bell brings the ball up past Signal Mountain's Jaylan Hardy.
Red Bank's Raijeria Bell brings the ball up past Signal Mountain's Jaylan Hardy.
photo by M.A. Locke
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