There were a couple of interesting high school basketball battles at Red Bank’s Susan Ingram Thurman Gymnasium Tuesday night and both teams who won did so by pulling away in the fourth quarter.
The Soddy Daisy Lady Trojans had a 23-20 lead at halftime and were still ahead 32-25 when the fourth quarter began, but that last eight minutes belonged to them as they pulled away for a 43-28 win.
The boys game was even closer as Soddy Daisy had a 30-29 lead at intermission. There were four lead changes and four ties in the third quarter.
With the Trojans holding a one-point lead late, Red Bank’s Jaylen Rice gave the Lions a 45-43 lead with a 3 in the final second and Red Bank never trailed again as they posted a hard-fought 61-53 victory.
Soddy Daisy is a much improved team in recent years and they proved it in this game as they gave the Lions all they wanted and more, but Red Bank thrives on intense defensive pressure and that may have been the difference as the Trojans simply ran out of gas at the end.
“I liked what I saw for about a quarter and a half, but credit to Soddy Daisy as they played well,” said Red Bank coach Nick Fike after his team improved to 12-3 overall and 3-0 in District 6-AAA.
“We are going to defend. Our energy and effort was all good, but we just have to play smarter on offense and do a better job boxing out as we’re really small physically.
“We just need to be a bit more crisp offensively. Our practices are much tougher than our games, so we have what we call an extra gear we kick into when the fourth quarter begins. We just try to wear teams down with our defensive pressure and that was the case tonight, but Soddy Daisy continues to get better and that will only help us to get better as well,” Fike added.
Soddy Daisy coach Jeremy Henderson felt like Red Bank’s defensive pressure eventually took its toll on his kids.
“I thought we played well for the most part, but they just wore us down with their defense in the fourth quarter,” Henderson said after his team’s record dropped to 9-5 overall and 2-1 in 6-AAA.
“We aren’t exactly where we want to be, but Red Bank’s defense is as good as anybody in town. But it’s the little things that are hurting us right now. We need to cut down on our mental mistakes.
“My guys gave it all they had as they emptied their tank. I thought we panicked at times in the fourth quarter, but coach Fike has done a great job of building a strong program and we’re trying to do the same thing at Soddy Daisy. The effort was there, but we just came up a little bit short,” he added.
A steal and layup from Kobey Jones gave Red Bank its first lead at 11-9 with 4:14 left in the first quarter, but the Lions didn’t score again as Soddy Daisy finished on an 8-0 run for a 17-11 lead at the first break.
Noah Patterson scored on a drive to start the second stanza as the Trojans had their biggest lead of the game at 19-11, but Red Bank then scored nine unanswered points for a 20-19 lead with 5:21 showing and it was a battle for the rest of the half.
Rice scored on a putback just ahead of the halftime horn to cut Soddy Daisy’s lead to 30-29 at the break.
The third quarter was by far the most competitive and fun to watch as there were those four ties and four lead changes before the 3 by Rice gave Red Bank the lead for the last time.
A layup by Drayden Collier with 41 seconds to play gave Red Bank its biggest lead at 61-48 before Holden Gravely scored on a layup and Aiden Haile hit a 3 at the end to make the final difference eight points.
Rice finished with 15 points to lead the Lions as they have four players in double figures. Jones added 13 while Mike Alex and D.J. Wilbur both finished with a dozen.
Haile scored 19 points to lead Soddy Daisy while Patterson was next with 13.
Soddy Daisy had an unofficial 26-24 rebounding edge as Logan Williams, Haile and Gravely all grabbed seven apiece. Rice topped Red Bank with 11.
SODDY DAISY GIRLS 43, RED BANK 28: Emma Rutherford scored 18 points and Aubrey Renfro 11 as Soddy Daisy led from the start and never trailed.
Journey Holloway was the scoring leader for Red Bank with 14 points.
The Lady Trojans are now 9-7 overall and 3-0 in 6-AAA while the Lady Lions are now 6-7 overall and 1-1 in 6-AAA.
Both teams are scheduled to play on Friday with Soddy Daisy going to Signal Mountain and Red Bank hosting Howard, but that might not happen if the weather prediction of snow holds true.
GIRLS SUMMARY
SODDY DAISY 15 8 9 11 -- 43
RED BANK 7 13 5 3 -- 28
SODDY DAISY (43) – Edmondson 2, Jenkins 3, Spencer 6, Aubrey Renfro 11, Emma Rutherford 18, Hughes 3, Stewart.
RED BANK (28) – Johnson 3, Davis, Duer, Houston, Ervin, Bullock 2, Odom 8, Journey Holloway 14.
3-POINT GOALS: Soddy Daisy 5 (Renfro 2, Rutherford 2, Hughes); Red Bank 3 (Johnson, Odom, Holloway).
BOYS SUMMARY
SODDY DAISY 17 13 13 10 -- 53
RED BANK 11 18 16 16 -- 61
SODDY DAISY (53) – Bowman 8, Aiden Haile 19, Gooden, Noah Patterson 13, Johnson 2, Gravely 6, Williams 5.
RED BANK (61) – D.J. Wilbur 12, Collier 6, Kobey Jones 13, Jaylen Rice 15, Mitchell, McDuffie 3, Mike Alex 12.
3-POINT GOALS: Soddy Daisy 5 (Haile 3, Bowman, Williams); Red Bank 5 (Wilbur 2, Rice, McDuffie, Alex).
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)