Three Signal Mountain starters got into double figures Monday night as the Eagles dismantled the Sequatchie County Indians with second-half scoring spurts.
The 4-20 Indians led the game by the end of the first quarter, but some key defensive adjustments and recovery of focus propelled Signal Mountain to a second-quarter lead that they built on all night en route to a 64-43 home victory.
“We just came out lackadaisical and weren’t playing hard,” said Signal Mountain head coach Steven Redman. “If you don’t respect the game, bad things happen and that’s what we did tonight… The first half was awful,” said Redman.
A group of hecklers seated behind the Signal Mountain bench enjoyed the game’s first eight minutes, facetiously narrating Eagle miscues and offering their opinions of bench players’ haircuts, but unflappable, the Eagles welcomed the extra motivation and took the game over to get the last laugh.
The Eagles doubled Sequatie’s scoring total in the second quarter, buoyed by Christopher Kennedy’s 10 second-quarter points. Sequatchie’s early lead was largely obtained through crisp passing to break through the press and resulted in open layups. This forced the Eagles to abandon the full-court press for a spell, but they went right back to it once they got a lead.
The second time around, the press seemed unbreakable. The Eagles held Sequatchie to seven points in the entire second quarter, stealing the ball in the back-court several times, and smothering ball-handlers that did make it across the timeline.
“We were getting no pressure on the frontline,” said Redman. “Luckily, in the second, we turned it around,” said Redman.
If the Eagles were stingy in the second quarter, they were downright greedy in the third. Having allowed just seven points in the second, they one-upped themselves in the third, yielding only two buckets and a total of six points for the quarter.
While their defense sharpened, their offense followed suit. Six more points from Kennedy and eight in the quarter from Jackson Martin pushed Signal Mountain to an 18-point quarter and 21-point lead.
Even with the game seemingly in hand, they didn’t stop there. The Eagles poured in 20 more in the fourth quarter, leaving no doubt who the better team was tonight.
Both teams emptied their bench in the game’s final minutes and the Indians got something to build on with their best offensive stretch of the night, getting back-to-back threes from Jose Becerra, fresh off the bench.
In the end, though, Chris Kennedy’s game-high 17 and Jackson Martin’s 13 were more than enough to propel the Eagles to a dominant win.
Sequatchie girls 31, Signal Mountain 45: Carlee Lowrey was a force on both ends in this one, and Sequatchie had no answer for her inside. Whether she was driving to the hoop, or finishing off feeds from guards Abby Walker and Meg Clark, Lowrey was unguardable all night. Not unlike the boy’s game, Sequatchie stayed close early, but the Lady Eagles finished off the game with a 13-6 run to earn the assertive victory.
GIRLS SUMMARY
SEQUATCHIE CO. 9 3 11 8 - 31
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 12 8 15 10 - 45
SEQUATCHIE CO. (31) - Jillyen Givens 11, Lee 8, Green 6, Stockwell 4, Swafford 2.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (45) - Carlee Lowrey 27, Rock 6, Walker 5, Clark 4, Dawson 3.
3-point goals: Sequatchie 3 (Green 2, Givens); Signal Mountain 1 (Walker).
Records: Sequatchie Co. (11-13, 5-2); Signal Mountain (21-5, 10-1).
BOYS SUMMARY
SEQUATCHIE CO. 13 7 6 17 - 43
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 12 14 18 20 - 64
SEQUATCHIE CO. (43) - Evitts 8, Terry 7, Becerra 6, Natole 5, Kelly 5, Cotton 4, Davis 3, Smith 2, Griffith 2, Sims 1.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (64) - Christopher Kennedy 17, Jackson Martin 13, Andrew Matukewitz 10, Newman 9, Rackel 7, Hilke 2, Sveadas 2, Shoemate 2, Thompson 2.
3-point goals: Sequatchie Co. 5 (Becerra 2, Kelly, Terry, Davis); Signal Mountain 0.
Records: Sequatchie Co. (4-20, 0-7); Signal Mountain (12-13, 4-7).