The Signal Mountain girls and the Baylor boys both recorded basketball victories in games played at Signal Mountain Saturday night, but the biggest winner of the day was the Forgotten Child’s Fund.
This is a new tradition where these two teams played each other with all the proceeds benefitting the Forgotten Child’s Fund. Admission for the first-time event was either a new toy for a child or a monetary donation, so it was a win-win situation for everyone involved. The game was played at Signal Mountain this time, but will be played at Baylor next year.
But when it came right down to the actual basketball action, the Lady Eagles improved to 10-0 with a convincing 67-39 win over the Lady Red Raiders while the Baylor boys won their third straight game and improved to 7-1 overall with a 68-56 win over the Signal Mountain boys.
Baylor coach Mark Price has been pleased for the most part with his team in the early part of the season with the only loss to a nationally-ranked team in a New York tournament a few days back. But the veteran coach wasn’t the least bit pleased with this latest win.
“We didn’t come out with as much energy as we normally do and that just wasn’t us out there tonight,” he began after a brief chat with his guys following the game.
“I thought that Signal Mountain was more engaged in the game than we were, so there is a lot for us to learn from this game. I thought we played well at times as we passed well and were able to make a few shots here and there, but we just need to learn that our margin for error is small. We were able to get a little separation in the second and third quarters and that was basically the difference in the game, but I’m not the least bit pleased with our performance,” Price added before heading toward the parking lot.
The Eagles dropped to 7-3 with Saturday’s loss that snapped a four-game winning streak. Coach Steve Redman liked the effort he got from his team, but their lack of willingness to prepare is something that is bothering the veteran coach.
“I thought we did some things really well tonight and I liked our rebounding as we played hard, but we just don’t practice well and that hurt us at times,” Redman began.
“We didn’t have many second-chance opportunities, but we just dug ourselves too big a hole as Baylor is a solid basketball team and they make you pay for your mistakes. They push us to get better and that’s one of the benefits of our playing them, but we just have to learn how to buy in to what we’re doing seven days a week,” he nodded.
The first quarter may have been the best one of the game as the score was tied three times and there were eight lead changes. Malik Davis hit the second of two free throws with no time on the clock as the Eagles knotted the score at 18 when the first quarter ended.
Nyzaiih Whaley swished a 3 from the wing to start the second quarter and Kevin Sacas followed with a short jumper in the lane for a 23-18 Baylor lead with just over a minute elapsed before Blake Wolfard and Josh Thompson scored back-to-back buckets to get the Eagles within one at 23-22.
Wolfard scored again on a drive down the lane with 3:11 left in the half to cut Baylor’s lead to 28-26, but the Red Raiders finished the half on a 7-0 run for a nine-point lead at intermission.
Andrew Matukewicz scored on a drive down the lane to start the second half as Signal Mountain got within seven points at 35-28, but it never got any closer than that as Baylor slowly pulled away and had a 54-39 lead after three quarters following a three-point play by Sacas in the final minute.
A 3 from the wing by Brock Barton gave Baylor its biggest lead of the game at 16 points when the difference was 57-41. The Eagles rallied with eight straight points to make it 57-49 with just over three minutes to play, but it never got any closer as Baylor sank six straight free throws at the end to protect its lead.
Matukewicz converted a three-point play with 10 seconds left to make the final difference a dozen points.
Barton was tops for Baylor with 20 points that included four shots from long range. Whaley was next with 13 while T.J. Fields was also in double figures with 12.
Matukewicz scored 23 points to lead Signal Mountain while Christopher Kennedy added 11. Wolford was next with nine while Thompson added eight.
Baylor had an unofficial 23-17 advantage in rebounding as Sacas grabbed seven and Jack Shutters six. Wolfard and Thompson both snagged five for the Eagles.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN GIRLS 67, BAYLOR 39: The Lady Red Raiders got off to a fast start as they hit four long ones in the first quarter to build an 18-15 lead, but the Lady Eagles turned things around in the second period as they outscored Baylor 21-4 for a 36-22 lead at the break.
It never got any closer as the Lady Eagles won the second half as well by a 31-17 margin to remain unbeaten after 10 games with the 28-point win.
Carlee Lowry, who’s proving that she’s as good in basketball as volleyball, scored 30 points to lead the Lady Eagles while Ashlyn Rock and Emily Redman were both in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Riley Oleksik was tops for Baylor with 20 points as the Lady Raiders are now 3-6 for the season.
GIRLS SUMMARY
BAYLOR 18 4 10 7 -- 39
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 15 21 20 11 -- 67
BAYLOR (39) – Leach 4, Riley Oleksik 20, Shelton, Carico, Thompson, McDonald 3, Tennant, Snyder 6, Willis 5, Sanders, Rory Oleksik, Merritt 1, Brown, Watson.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (67) – Walker 5, Roberson 2, Clark 4, Emily Redman 10, Carlee Lowry 30, Ashlyn Rock 11, Bohman 3, Edwards, Rogers 2, Provonsha.
3-Point Goals: Baylor 6 (Riley Oleksik 4, Snyder 2); Signal Mountain 4 (Clark, Redman 2, Bohman).
BOYS SUMMARY
BAYLOR 18 17 19 14 -- 68
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 18 8 13 17 -- 56
BAYLOR (68) – Brock Barton 20, Nyzaiah Whaley 13, T. J. Fields 12, K. Whaley, Sixto 4, Born 6, Shutters 4, Smith 2, Sacas 7.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (56) – Andrew Matukewicz 23, Davis 1, Timblin 4, Christopher Kennedy 11, C. Thompson, Wolfard 9, Zimmerman, J. Thompson 8.
3-Point Goals: Baylor 10 (Barton 4, N. Whaley, Fields 3, Born 2); Signal Mountain 3 (Matukewicz 2, Kennedy).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)