Host Signal Mountain left its first district matchup of the year 2-0 over Soddy Daisy behind strong efforts from underclassmen on both the boys’ and girls’ teams.
In the first matchup of the night, a dominant second half from the Signal Mountain girls lead them to a 43-26 victory.
To be put simply, the first half was just bad basketball.
Neither team could get much going in the first as a plague of turnovers and fouls from both squads took over the first half, ending at 16-13 in favor of the eagles.
In the second half, however, things were much easier to watch. Signal Mountain took control. The Eagles held a long halftime meeting where head coach Kendra Bell challenged the players on many things, most important defense. The starting five for the eagles walked straight out of the locker room onto the court and began the half of defensive domination.
“We we’re missing rotations, getting beat off the dribble a lot, and not moving the ball, so I just challenged them on a few things, and I think they responded well.” Said Bell.
Though the eagles never truly got the offense going, their full-court press on defense created countless turnovers and fast breaks and also held the lady Trojan offense to just 2 points in the final quarter.
“We like to press. I like an up and down game. It hurt us some [in the first half] but helped us later in the game. That’s the style of game we like to play.” Said Bell.
The size for Signal dominated the half as their three bigs, Carlee Lowry, Ashlyn Rock, and Aubrey Mckendrick accounted for 21 of their 27 points in the second. To the eye test, the most impactful of the bunch was sophomore Ashlyn Rock. Rock dominated the offensive glass, extending countless possessions for the Eagles and scoring a handful of key buckets inside.
“She plays hard with a ton of energy and is a good athlete. I thought from the very beginning of the game she was snagging a lot of rebounds and making things happen. When somebody is playing that hard the teammates follow along, so she was a huge leader.” Said Coach Bell.
The smothering defense and relentless effort of the Eagles were even more evident in the fourth as they caused Soddy Daisy to go scoreless from the field. Their only two points in the quarter came from the line as the game finished 43-26 in favor of the home team.
In the second matchup of the night, the Signal Mountain boys outlasted Soddy Daisy 59-49.
The two squads came out motivated to get the win behind large student sections from both sides. Early on, however, neither team could pull away. The teams tried to figure each other out in the first but walked away tied at 8-8.
The second quarter was much of the same until late. In the last 1:30, Signal Mountain seemed to find life. A 7-0 run to end the half electrified the crowd and put the Eagles up 23-20 heading into the break with all the momentum.
That momentum was evident as the teams came back for the second half. Signal jumped out to a big lead, 15 at one point, behind a motivated defensive effort and a trio of threes from confident Freshman guard Chris Kennedy.
Signal Mountain seemed very close to putting the game out of reach, but a late third-quarter run sparked 8 points from Senior guard Zach Ryans, and what seemed like a three-point contest from the Eagles as they chucked threes kept Soddy Daisy in the game heading into the final period.
“Jacking threes isn’t our thing. A few games ago we did the same thing and scored just four points in the quarter. If we are getting good looks fine, but we weren’t always. That’s definitely not our M.O.” said Signal Mountain Head Coach Steve Redman.
Soddy Daisy continued to battle in the final period and even cut the lead to just five at one point. Sadly, for the Trojans, the guard play for the host Eagles was just too solid as Signal Mountain was able to push the lead back to 10 behind Kennedy and fellow backcourt member and underclassmen Andrew Matukewicz.
Ultimately, the Eagles would come out on top 59-49, despite many runs late from Soddy Daisy.
The production that Signal Mountain got from their young guards was unprecedented and vital to their success. The sophomore Matukewicz and freshman Kennedy played nothing like their age.
They were calm and confident in their play and never folded under the pressure of the Soddy Daisy defense and crowd as the Trojans made runs to get back in the game. Kennedy’s sharpshooting and Matukewicz’s slashing, and ball-handling made it impossible for the game to slip out of their hands.
“They are both really good ballplayers. That’s why they start for us. We are super young. We start two sophomores and a freshman, and our sixth man is a sophomore as well. Andrew and Chris are both basketball guys though. They are basketball first. A ton of guys play baseball, football, and everything else. So, as they mature, they are gonna keep getting even better and do so many good things for us.” Said Coach Redman.
Next up, Signal Mountain heads to district opponent Red Bank on Tuesday, while the Soddy Daisy squads look to get back on track in a non-district matchup at Hixson.
GIRLS SUMMARY
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 9 7 14 13 - 43
SODDY DAISY 5 8 11 2 - 26
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (43) – Carlee Lowry 14, Rock 7, Hanson 7, Kennedy 6, Mckendrick 4, Clark 4, Paulson 1
SODDY DAISY (26) – Varner 9, Trimiar 4, Morgan 4, Hall 3, Crowley 3, Yother 2, Harding 1
3-POINT GOALS: Signal Mountain 2 (Harrison 2); Soddy Daisy 2 (Crawley, Hall)
BOYS SUMMARY
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 8 15 19 17 - 59
SODDY DAISY 8 12 12 17 - 49
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (59) - Chris Kennedy 19, Andrew Matukewicz 12, Wolfard 8, Timblin 8, Ottley 6, L. Matukewicz 4, Johnson 2
SODDY DAISY (49) - Shaun Pangle 18, Zach Ryans 16, Eller 8, Reid 5, White 2,
3-POINT GOALS: Signal Mountain 4 (Kennedy 4); Soddy Daisy 5 (Pangle 2, Ryans, Reid, Eller)
(If you have any questions or comments, contact Jack Gold via email: goldj2002@yahoo.com, or Twitter: @jackiebuckets)