When you attend a district basketball tournament championship and the top two teams meet in the finals, you always expect and hope for a close game where the outcome might be determined in the final stretch.
That was not the case at Red Bank’s Susan Ingram Thurman Gymnasium on Tuesday night as both top-seeded teams won with ease by lopsided scores and Signal Mountain was involved in both.
The Lady Eagles totally dominated the Soddy Daisy Lady Trojans en route to a 49-25 win for their 19th win in 25 games while the Signal Mountain boys came out on the short end of their game with Red Bank as the Lions got off to a great start and proceeded to win by a comfortable 75-47 margin as they improved to 24-7 with the win.
The Red Bank girls claimed third place with a 48-34 victory over Hixson in the first consolation game while the Soddy Daisy boys earned the consolation win with a come-from-behind 47-46 win over Central.
All four teams in the championship games will be at home to host the first game of the region with the girls playing on Friday and the guys following on Saturday. All four teams in the consolation games will be on the road those two days.
GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP: The Signal Mountain girls have proven that they have the ability to score points in a hurry, but defense was the name of the game as they made life really tough on the Lady Trojans as they defeated Soddy Daisy for the third time this season.
Signal Mountain coach Kendra Bell was all smiles when this one ended.
“I thought we dominated defensively and that might have been the key to our win,” she began after a brief chat with her team afterward.
“We’ll celebrate a little bit tonight and get back to work tomorrow as those region games are always tough, but I’m really proud of our defensive effort. When you hold the other team to 25 points, you’re going to win most of the time.
“But it was a great team effort as we’re a well-rounded team and we aren’t a one-man show,” she nodded.
Soddy Daisy coach Katie Wright was obviously not happy at all with the way her team played, or more likely, didn’t play.
“I’m sorry but I don’t have anything good to say right now. There was absolutely nothing that we did well tonight,” she blurted.
Carlee Lowry scored on a putback to give the Lady Eagles the early lead before Abby Faires knotted the score with a layup on the other end.
The Lady Eagles continued to score almost a will as they ended the quarter on a 9-2 run.
The two teams traded 3s to start the second quarter with Faires cutting the Lady Eagle lead to 14-7 with 6:21 left, but by the time Soddy Daisy scored again almost five minutes later, Signal Mountain had scored 11 unanswered points and the runaway was in motion.
The difference was 28-11 at intermission.
Soddy Daisy’s Hannah Patterson finally scored as she tallied all eight of her points in the third quarter, but the Lady Eagles finished the stanza with nine straight points for a 41-21 lead and it never got any closer.
Lowry finished the game with 16 points and 13 rebounds as the Lady Eagles had an unofficial 26-12 advantage in rebounds. Ashlynn Rock followed with 13 points and eight rebounds.
Patterson was the leading scorer for the Lady Trojans with her eight points while Alivia Hall and Faires added six and five points, respectively.
Soddy Daisy falls to 19-12 with the defeat.
BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP: Jaylen Rice converted two free throws in the first minute to give Red Bank an early lead before Signal got back-to-back buckets from Christopher Kennedy and Josh Thompson for a 5-2 lead, the only time all game that the Eagles were ahead.
Red Bank scored 18 of the final 22 points for a 20-9 lead when the first quarter ended and it only got worse as the Lions gave up a layup to Andrew Matukewicz to start the second stanza before scoring 10 straight points for a 30-11 lead with 4:13 following a slam by Kendrick Lloyd.
The Red Bank scoring machine was in high gear by this point as the Lions finished the half on a 16-6 run for a commanding 46-17 lead at intermission.
Red Bank’s biggest lead of the game was 32 points on three occasions in the third quarter before seven straight points by the Eagles trimmed the difference to 58-33 when the third quarter ended.
Even with subs in the game at the end for Red Bank, the Lions kept scoring as they finished the runaway on a 10-2 run for the 28-point victory.
Red Bank coach Nick Fike has really done a good job in recent years turning the Lions into one of the better teams in the Chattanooga area. He was all smiles when this latest game ended.
“I thought we played really well tonight. Might have been one of our better games of the season, but there’s a fire in their bellies. We’ve worked hard the last couple of years to reach this point and it’s nice to see them rise to the occasion,” he began.
“We’ve been playing really good basketball these last few games and I have absolutely nothing to complain about,” he added.
Signal Mountain coach Steve Redman didn’t dodge any punches when making his post-game comments.
“We just got whipped,” he said matter of factly after all was said and done.
“It was simply too late when we started scoring in the second half because when it mattered, we just didn’t play well,” he added.
Anthony Bonner led the way for Red Bank with 14 points while Lloyd was next with a dozen. Landon Crutcher and Jaylen Rice were also in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively, while Kamaron Johnson added nine.
Andrew Matukewicz was tops for the Eagles with 24 points while Ben Timblin added 10.
Red Bank also had an unofficial 30-23 advantage in rebounds as Lloyd had seven while Malik Rizer and Bonner claimed six each. Josh Thompson was tops for the Eagles with seven while Timblin snagged six and Matukewicz five.
GIRLS CONSOLATION: It was the Journey Holloway show as she scored 36 points to lead the Lady Lions to the 14-point win over Hixson. Brooklyn Ervin and Alannah Bullock both had four points each to support Holloway.
Beth Moore finished with 15 points to lead the Lady Wildcats while Kenyasia Douglass was next with five.
BOYS CONSOLATION: The Purple Pounders got off to a good start and built a 29-22 lead at the half before Soddy Daisy made its comeback and had a 39-38 lead when the fourth quarter began.
A 3 by Central’s Keyonta Powell with 6:04 to go in the game put the Pounders ahead 44-39, but the Trojans then scored eight unanswered points for a 47-44 lead in the final minute, making a last-second layup by Matthew Sharpe meaningless.
Jonathan Love set the pace for Soddy Daisy with 15 points while Aidan Haile followed with a dozen.
Sharpe had 20 for Central while Powell finished with 14.
GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMARY
SODDY DAISY 4 7 10 4 -- 25
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 11 17 13 8 -- 49
SODDY DAISY (25) – Edmondson 2, Hall 6, Faires 5, Jenkins 2, Renfro, Stewart, Patterson 8, Spencer 2.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (49) – Walker 7, Roberson 3, Clark 2, Redman 8, Carlee Lowry 16, Ashlynn Rock 13.
3-Point Goals: Soddy Daisy 2 (Faires, Patterson); Signal Mountain 3 (Redman 2, Roberson).
GIRLS ALL-TOURNAMENT: Brooklyn Ervin and Journey Holloway (Red Bank); Beth Moore and Kahlia Collier (Hixson); Abby Faires, Alivia Hall and Hannah Patterson (Soddy Daisy); Ashlyn Rock, Abby Walker and Carlee Lowry (Signal Mountain).
BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMARY
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 9 8 16 14 -- 47
RED BANK 20 26 12 17 -- 75
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (47) – Andrew Matukewicz 24, Davis, Ben Timblin 10, Kennedy 3, Rackel, C. Thompson 2, Zimmerman, Shoemate 2, J. Thompson 6.
RED BANK (75) – Tanner 2, Anthony Bonner 14, Jaylen Rice 10, Johnson 9, Kendrick Lloyd 12, Stewart, Rizer 4, Landon Crutcher 11, Alex, Mitchell, Wilbur 7, Hambrick 4, Owens.
3-Point Goals: Signal Mountain 2 (Matukewicz, Kennedy); Red Bank 8 (Bonner, Johnson 3, Lloyd, Crutcher, Wilbur 2).
BOYS ALL-TOURNAMENT: Drew Williams and Matthew Sharpe (Central); Jonathon Love and Taylor Hughes (Soddy Daisy); Andrew Matukewicz, Christopher Kennedy and Josh Thompson (Signal Mountain); Anthony Bonner, Kendrick Lloyd and Jaylen Rice (Red Bank).
GIRLS CONSOLATION SUMMARY
HIXSON 10 6 2 16 – 34
RED BANK 8 11 16 13 -- 48
HIXSON (34) – K. Collier 4, A. Collier 3, Plank, Swanson, Lee 4, Douglass 5, White 2, Brown, Quarles 1, Beth Moore 15, Beach, Kaylor.
RED BANK (48) – Wade, Wiley 2, Montgomery 2, Duer, Ervin 4, Bullock 4, Journey Holloway 36, Aguilar, Gillespie.
3-Point Goals: Hixson none; Red Bank 2 (Holloway 2).
BOYS CONSOLATION SUMMARY
CENTRAL 11 18 9 8 -- 46
SODDY DAISY 11 11 17 8 -- 47
CENTRAL (46) – Patillo, Charles 2, Crigger 2, Keyonte Powell 14, Yearby, Sanderfer, Williams 8, Matthew Sharpe 20, Kendrick.
SODDY DAISY (47) – Bowman 7, Aidan Haile 12, Mull, Patterson, Jonathan Love 15, Landtroop 2, Angel, Williams 4, Hughes 3, Gravley.
3-Point Goals: Central 2 (Powell, Williams); Soddy Daisy 3 (Bowman, Haile, Love).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)