Red Bank's Arteya Scott battles for a loose ball in the second half as Red Bank holds on for the win.
photo by Greg Davick
At least one local girls team advanced to the finals of the Region 3-AA basketball tournament being played at East Ridge High School’s Catherine Neely Gymnasium this week.
The Signal Mountain Lady Eagles had their season come to a screeching halt following a 56-47 loss to Meigs County in Monday night’s first game while the Red Bank Lions earned a spot in Wednesday night’s regional final with an impressive 56-45 victory over McMinn Central.
District 5 champion Meigs will face District 6 champ Red Bank for the right to host a sectional game on Saturday. Wednesday's loser will travel on Saturday.
MEIGS CO. 56, SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 47: It was do or die time for these four teams as the winners advanced while the losers called it a season.
The Lady Tigers, improving to 23-9 with Monday’s win, jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first half of the first quarter and had a seemingly-comfortable 28-16 lead at intermission before the Lady Eagles mounted a strong comeback.
Signal Mountain enjoyed an 18-8 advantage in the third stanza to get within two points at 36-34 by the end of the quarter.
Olivia Koontz sank a baseline jumper with 6:30 to play to get Signal within one at 39-38 before teammate Jaylah Hardy converted a three point play nine seconds later to give the Lady Eagles their only lead of the game at 41-39.
Meigs responded with a 7-0 run in the next 90 seconds for a 46-41 lead following a short jumper in the lane by Jacelyn Stone with 4:46 to play.
Signal got to within three points three times in the final three minutes, but could never regain the lead as the Lady Tigers were able to sink four of six free throws in the final minute to preserve the win.
“Signal Mountain has a good team. Number 11 and number 23 gave us all we wanted, but we wanted to shut down their big girl and were able to do that for the most part,” Meigs County coach Jason Powell praised the play of Signal’s Hardy and Lamiah Walker.
“We got off to a good start with some big turnovers that led to some easy baskets that set the tone early, but we didn’t do much in the third quarter. We had to continue to guard, but the good news is we didn’t panic. Signal was in the driver’s seat, but I’m glad we responded.
“We were able to make some big baskets late and those free throws helped,” Powell expressed.
Signal Mountain coach Kendra Bell felt like the defensive pressure applied by the Lady Tigers was the downfall for her team.
“We just couldn’t handle the pressure,” Bell began her post-game comments.
“We played a bad first half as nothing went right. We battled back in the second half and I was proud of that. But in an important game like this, you have to be able to execute under pressure and we didn’t. It’s a huge disappointment for sure, but we’re young and hopefully we’ll be back next year,” Bell concluded with a smile.
Stone finished with 21 points after tallying 15 in the first half to lead Meigs. Anna Crowder had nine points and Ansley Wade eight for the winners.
Hardy topped the Lady Eagles with 19 points while Walker added a dozen before fouling out late.
Signal Mountain also had an unofficial 32-26 rebounding edge as Walker and Koontz both snagged 10. Jaci Powell had seven for Meigs while Stone claimed five.
Signal Mountain’s season ends with a record of 25-6.
RED BANK 56, McMINN CENTRAL 45: Much like the first game, the winning team raced to a big lead early and never looked back.
With senior post player Bailey Lee scoring seven of her 18 points in the first four minutes, the Lady Lions bolted to an 11-0 lead and never trailed.
The difference was 20-8 when the first quarter ended while the lead had stretched to 33-18 by intermission.
The Chargerettes made things interesting in the second half as they got within seven in the third quarter at 36-29 on a layup by Carlee Rule with 3:10 left in the third stanza. A putback by Kellan Baker with 1:42 left in the game got her team within five at 46-41, but the Lady Lions were able to beat the pressure and get some easy break-aways at the end to extend the final score to 11 points by scoring 10 of the final 14.
It was a thrilling moment for Red Bank coach Bailey McGinnis and her scrappy Lady Lions as they won their third straight game with their leading scorer Savannah Washington on the bench in street clothes. Unfortunately, the sophomore sparkplug won’t be back after suffering a torn ACL in the District final against Signal Mountain.
“I can’t believe it,” McGinnis said after getting hugs from her parents and older brother Drew Lyness after the final horn sounded.
“We’ve really had to battle these past few games and we had to weather another storm tonight, but we were able to keep our composure after facing some tough pressure. We wanted to get the ball inside to Bailey Lee as she’s our leader, but I couldn’t have asked for a better start.
“This round has been our Achilles heel in recent years and it’s been at least 20 years since we advanced to a regional final. None of these girls have experienced anything like this before, but we’ll enjoy it tonight before going back to work tomorrow.
“We’ll do it all again on Wednesday, but I’m just on cloud nine right now. McMinn Central is always good and well-coached, so for us to beat them is a really big deal,” McGinnis smiled.
Chargerette coach Johnny Morgan felt like Monday’s result was just a mirror image of his team’s entire season.
“We didn’t play to win as we just didn’t have any fight, but that’s been the case all season,” the veteran coach said after his team’s season ended at 17-11.
“We won 17 games this year, but we got outfought in most of them. We had a little run in the third quarter, but couldn’t sustain anything as we appeared afraid to take a shot. Not to take anything away from Red Bank, but this game was typical of the way we’ve played all year,” Morgan concluded.
Lee had 18 points to lead Red Bank, now 27-5, while Arteya Scott had 10. Shannon Ledford and Ashley Ware both scored eight while Raijeria Bell finished with seven points.
Baker and Rule were the leading scorers for McMinn Central with 18 and 10 points, respectively.
The Lady Lions also had an unofficial 40-23 edge in rebounds as Lee claimed a dozen. Bell had eight and Ware seven for Red Bank while Kara Crabtree led the Chargerettes with seven.
GIRLS SEMIFINAL SCORING SUMMARIES
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 6 10 18 13 -- 47
MEIGS COUNTY 13 15 8 20 -- 56
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (47) – Hanson, Kennedy, Hardy 19, Sitton 6, Walker 12, McCarter, Koontz 8.
MEIGS CO. (56) – A. Crowder, Crager 4, Stone 21, Powell 7, Wade 8, E. Crowder 4, Bales 3.
3-POINT GOALS: Signal Mountain 1 (Hardy); Meigs Co. 1 (Wade).
McMINN CENTRAL 8 10 11 16 -- 45
RED BANK 20 13 5 18 -- 56
McMINN CENTRAL (45) – Finney, Baker 18, Rule 10, Buckner 4, Davis, Crabtree 1, Hafley 3, Beaty 3, Howard 6.
RED BANK (56) – Loher 3, Crafton 2, Heathington, Scott 10, Ledford 8, Bell 7, Lee 18, Ware 8.
3-POINT GOALS: McMinn Central 7 (Baker 4, Rule, Buckner, Hafley); Red Bank 1 (Scott).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)