The Soddy Daisy Lady Trojans took a short trip up Highway 27 in mid December to play Sale Creek, where the Lady Panthers won by a 38-32 final.
These same two teams played at Soddy Daisy Wednesday night and the Lady Trojans returned the favor.
The final score was 43-39 as Soddy Daisy improved to 17-7 with the win. Sale Creek is now 13-7.
There was good news and bad news from the Soddy Daisy camp. The bad news was starting senior point guard Brylee Edmondson being sidelined indefinitely after recent surgery on a dislocated finger. The good news is that Hannah Patterson is back and played her first game after recovering from ACL surgery back in the summer.
Soddy Daisy coach Katie Wright was just happy to walk away with a win in a game that has turned into quite a rivalry in recent seasons.
“The best news is that we got the win, but we also lost our point guard this week and we’re still trying to figure out how to play without her. We’re glad that Hannah Patterson is back and that’s huge. Having her back is a real blessing for us,” Wright began following the game.
“This has turned into a pretty good rivalry, but I think we just wanted it a little more tonight. We built a nice lead to start the second half, but kind of let up and let Sale Creek get back in it.
“We just have to be a bit more poised in tough games like this. It wasn’t our best performance by any stretch, but we won and that’s all that matters,” she added with a smile.
Sale Creek’s Mark Holland knew his girls were in for a battle, but he was extremely proud for how they battled before coming up just a little bit short.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my girls as we battled for all we were worth tonight. We knew it would be tough winning here. We didn’t shoot the ball well and missed too many free throws. We had a bunch of good looks, but couldn’t make them go in as the ball just wouldn’t fall. Soddy Daisy earned it, but we’ve played a really tough schedule with many bigger schools and that will only help us at tournament time,” the former long snapper for the Tennessee Vols nodded.
Emma Rutherford, who led a trio of Lady Trojans in double figures with 14 points, put her team ahead by hitting the second of two free throws with 6:16 left in the opening quarter before Madi Ellis scored the final four points to give Sale Creek a 9-7 lead at the first break.
It was back and forth in the second period with Trinity Smith’s jumper from the line giving the Lady Panthers a 16-15 lead with 2:05 left before halftime.
Gabby Spencer scored on a layup and Rutherford bagged a 3 toward the end to give Soddy Daisy a 20-16 lead at intermission.
Gracie Arnold sank the second of two free throws to start the second half as the Soddy Daisy lead was 20-17, but the Lady Trojans then scored nine straight points and had their biggest lead of the game at 29-17 with 2:43 left following a 3 from the key by Laura Jenkins.
Sale Creek then scored the final seven points to trail by 29-24 when the quarter ended.
Smith sank a short jumper to start the fourth as Sale Creek got within three at 29-26, but the Lady Panthers never got any closer than four the rest of the way as Soddy Daisy was able to hold on for the win.
While Rutherford topped Soddy Daisy’s scoring with her 14 points, Spencer added 13 before fouling out late while Jenkins finished with 10.
Smith and Ellis were the scoring leaders for Sale Creek with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Soddy Daisy had an unofficial 26-22 rebounding edge after both teams had 11 in the first half. Spencer had nine while Gourney Stewart and Rutherford followed with six and five, respectively. Smith led Sale Creek with seven while Maggie Garner had six.
SODDY DAISY BOYS 59, SALE CREEK 40: The Panthers got off to a sizzling start as Khari Escobar scored 12 of his 17 points in the first quarter for a 19-10 lead at the first break before Soddy Daisy was able to turn the tables.
Skyler Johnson scored on a layup with 2:02 left in the half for Soddy Daisy’s first lead at 26-25 and there were four lead changes the rest of the quarter before Johnson sank two free throws with 23.9 seconds left to give the Trojans the 30-29 lead at the break.
The Panthers were as cold in the second half as they were hot in the first as they only scored 11 points total in the last two quarters as Soddy Daisy scored 16 of the first 18 points in the third quarter and never looked back.
Aiden Haile scored 17 points to lead Soddy Daisy, now 13-5 for the season. Noah Patterson was also in double figures with 10 while Holden Gravely and Max Bowman finished with nine and eight points, respectively.
Bennett Wilson and Escobar both had 17 points to lead Sale Creek.
GIRLS SUMMARY
SALE CREEK 9 7 8 15 -- 39
SODDY DAISY 7 13 9 14 -- 43
SALE CREEK (39) – Williams 2, Madi Ellis 12, Holland 2, Garner 2, Arnold 6, Trinity Smith 13, Levi 2.
SODDY DAISY (43) – Ward 1, Laura Jenkins 10, Gabby Spencer 13, Renfro 2, Emma Rutherford 14, Stewart 1, Patterson 2.
3-POINT GOALS: Sale Creek 3 (Ellis 2, Arnold); Soddy Daisy 2 (Jenkins, Rutherford).
BOYS SUMMARY
SALE CREEK 19 10 7 4 -- 40
SODDY DAISY 10 20 20 9 -- 59
SALE CREEK (40) – LaRose, Khari Escobar 17, Freeman 4, Goulart, Robards, Hodges, Bennett Wilson 17, Mooneyham, Khalil Escobar, C. Bailey 2, Jares, G. Bailey, Tullos.
SODDY DAISY (59) – Bowman 8, Coleman 3, Aiden Haile 17, Mull, Noah Patterson 10, Johnson 7, Gravely 9, Williams 5, Lott, Angel.
3-POINT GOALS: Sale Creek 1 (Khari Escobar); Soddy Daisy 4 (Haile 3, Coleman).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)