Monday night was win or go home for the Brainerd Lady Panthers and McMinn Central Chargerettes, and both teams played like it. The game’s intensity was strong, and the pace was fast from start to finish in High-Jackson Gymnasium.
Brainerd, in their home whites, won the opening tip, but McMinn Central won everything else, especially in the first half. It seemed at times like the Chargerettes couldn’t miss, thanks in large part to their shooting guard Molly Masingale.
The freshman seemed comfortable shooting the ball from any angle on the floor. She hit two early 3-pointers and tacked on another eight points to end the first half with 14. Masingale would add one more 3-pointer in the third quarter for a game total 17 points
After every made basket McMinn Central pressed hard on the inbound before falling back into a two-three zone defense. Brainerd lined up in a one-two-two zone all game, usually with senior Tyliyah Ward supplying the pressure up-top.
The Panthers struggled to manufacture points in the first half against the high press of McMinn and their disciplined zone defense. The Chargerettes sat back and dared Brainerd to shoot from deep all game, which they did, but the Lady Panthers just couln’t find their stroke.
They went down 12-5 by the end first quarter, then managed to add only one bucket in the second and found themselves in a 32-7 hole going into the locker room at halftime.
McMinn Central’s Kellan Baker, a junior, decided in the second half it was time to leave her stamp on the game. The talented point guard used sharp crossovers and quick step-backs to open space for her shot off the dribble. Most of her game high 21 points came after she created space in the middle of Brainerd’s zone and knocked down her shots from the elbow.
Unfortunately for Brainerd, their third quarter mirrored the first two. They managed to hit a few more buckets but still found themselves down 29, with only 16 points on the board going into the final quarter.
The Panthers finally came alive with a huge 28-point fourth quarter. Seniors Raijeria Bell and Arteya Scott did everything in their power to get their squad back in the game. Scott forced several turnovers and drove hard at the basket, picking up fouls along the way. She would end the night with 13 points.
Bell also clearly didn’t want to go home early, she picked up her intensity and started to impose her will on the game. In the final quarter she hit four 3-pointers from deep and added nine more on top of that to match Baker with a game high 21 points.
The Panther’s fourth quarter run was so impressive McMinn Central Head Coach Johnny Morgan was forced to put Masingale and Baker back in the game to stanch the bleeding. The two guards along eight fourth quarter points from Lucy Davis helped the Chargerettes seal the 65-44 victory.
“I had to put my two good guards back out there to take care of it,” Coach Morgan said about the fourth quarter. “Overall we did a good job, we blocked out well and did what we practiced.”
McMinn Central will play at Meigs County in the Region 3-2A championship game on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
SUMMARY
MCMINN CENTRAL 12 20 13 20 – 65
BRAINERD 5 2 9 28 – 44
MCMINN CENTRAL (65) – Kellan Baker 21, Molly Masingale 17, Davis 8, Kara Crabtree 5, Mayfield 5, Howard 4, Rule 2, Beaty 1.
BRAINERD (44) – Raijeria Bell 21, Arteya Scott 13, Wright 4, Belcher 2, Mason 2, Ward 2.
3-POINT GOALS: McMinn 3 (Masingale 3) Brainerd 6 (Bell 4, Scott, Wright).
(Email William Shelton at wil.shelt21@gmail.com)