The prep basketball season is just two weeks old and there are still a lot of unanswered questions for many coaches as they try to find the best five players to put on the floor.
Despite that, all seems to be rocking along nicely for the Signal Mountain Eagles as they rolled to their first district win on the road at Hixson Tuesday night, the Eagles running to a big lead early and slowly pulling away as they improved to 3-1 overall with the 71-31 victory.
Hixson is now 0-3 overall and 0-1 in 6-AAA.
Signal Mountain coach Steve Redman is always looking for ways to improve, but he could find very little wrong with his team’s performance.
“That was a good game for us as we played hard and did some good things along the way,” Redman began shortly after the final horn sounded.
“I’m always happy to get a district win on the road, but I really didn’t know what to expect. I know that Hixson has improved a lot, but we were aggressive early and did a good job attacking the rims. Everyone got to play and that’s always good, but we just have to keep working,” he said, knowing that his team’s next game will also be on the road Friday at Soddy Daisy.
Hixson coach Blake McNair really didn’t know what to say after his team got beat decisively in every area of the game.
“We have to be ready to approach practice a different way, but we can’t afford to worry about the score at this point,” he said while sitting quietly at his desk after his dressing room had cleared out.
“We just have to get better every day. I feel like we have the potential, but it’s been growing pains early on. I was really disappointed with our effort and our passion. We just didn’t play to our standard of basketball. The good news is that we got to see guys get some minutes who normally don’t get to play much. They can only help us later,” he added.
Chris Kennedy swished a 3 from the key to start the game. Justin Tutt followed with two free throws and Keonte Steward sank a layup with 6:03 left in the opening stanza to cut Signal’s lead to 7-4. The Eagles finished the quarter on a 10-0 run for a 17-4 difference at the first break and it never got much closer.
An 8-1 run by the Eagles in the final two minutes of the half put Signal Mountain ahead 36-10 at intermission.
Tayshaun Fleming sank a short jumper in the lane for Hixson to start the second half, but the Eagles then scored 13 straight points for a 49-12 advantage midway through the third stanza. Braxton Finger scored on a drive along the baseline just ahead of the horn for a 60-25 lead for Signal, leading to the mercy rule in the fourth where the clock ran the whole way.
With subs from both teams playing at that point, play got a little ragged before Rajon High swished a 3 at the buzzer for Hixson’s highlight play, making the final score 71-31.
Kennedy scored 14 points in the first half and finished as the scoring leader with 18, including three from long distance. J.B. Zimmerman and Christtian Thompson were also in double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively.
Fleming was the scoring leader for Hixson with seven points.
Signal Mountain also had an unofficial 34-21 advantage in rebounds as Zimmerman snagged a dozen and Thompson 10 to lead the Eagles. Fleming had four to lead Hixson.
The Wildcats will be at home again on Thursday to face the CHSTEA Patriots.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN GIRLS 38, HIXSON 34: It’s been a slow start for the Lady Eagles, who are replacing all five starters from last year, but they got their first win of the young season and that made head coach Kendra Bell happy.
The first half was most significant as the Lady Eagles built a 24-14 lead before withstanding a fast finish for Hixson.
Becca Rogers was the only Lady Eagle in double figures as she finished with 12 while Keira Bohman was close with nine. Kahlia Collier had eight points for Hixson while Payton White added seven and E.K. Killian six.
GIRLS SUMMARY
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 14 10 8 6 -- 38
HIXSON 7 7 10 10 -- 34
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (38) – Cooper 4, Roberson 6, Becca Rogers 12, Nelson, Bohman 9, Tate 3, Provonsha 4.
HIXSON (34) – Collier 8, Killian 6, Lee 3, Douglas 5, White 7, Beach.
3-POINT GOALS: Signal Mountain 4 (Bohman 2, Tate, Provonsha); Hixson 3 (Killian, Lee, White).
BOYS SUMMARY
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 17 19 24 11 -- 71
HIXSON 4 6 15 6 -- 31
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (71) – H. Shoemate 4, P. Shoemate 8, J.B. Zimmerman 14, Johnston 5, Chris Kennedy 18, McMillan 3, Rackel 4, Christian Thompson 11, Harwood 2, Ashely 2, Flenniken.
HIXSON (31) – Castro 5, Millsap 1, Ewing, R. Burney, Fleming 7, Stewart, Steward 2, K. Burney, Tutt 4, Bertrand 2, High 3, Finger 3, Beasley 3, Bailey 1.
3-POINT GOALS: Signal Mountain 5 (Kennedy 3, Zimmerman, Thompson); Hixson 2 (Castro, High).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)