Baylor Beats Notre Dame Girls In Best Of Preps Opener

Sequatchie Co., Signal Mountain & Red Bank All Prevail With Ease

  • Thursday, January 2, 2020
  • John Hunt

Baylor’s Lady Red Raiders won six straight Best of Preps basketball tournament titles before getting beat by Meigs County a year ago.

Baylor is hoping to get back on the winning track and they took the first step Thursday morning at Chattanooga State with a 44-29 win over Notre Dame in the first of four girls games.

Turns out that was the closest girls game of the day as the average margin of victory for those four games was a whopping 27 points.

Sequatchie County, Signal Mountain and Red Bank earned wins later with the Lady Indians beating Brainerd by a 70-39 final.  The Lady Eagles totally dominated GPS in a 64-22 victory while the Lady Lions used a big second-half run to defeat Silverdale by a 66-46 final.

Friday’s schedule has Notre Dame and Brainerd playing in the first consolation game at 10 while GPS and Silverdale square off at 1.  The Baylor-Sequatchie County semifinal is set for 4 while the Red Bank-Signal Mountain battle is scheduled for 7.

BAYLOR 44, NOTRE DAME 29: The Lady Red Raiders bolted to a 10-0 lead in the first half of the first quarter and never looked back as they breezed to their ninth win of the season against four losses.

The Baylor defense was better than average, but the Lady Irish had their worst shooting performance of the season as they only connected on one field goal attempt in the first half as they trailed 23-5 at intermission.

Notre Dame played better in the second half, but that early deficit was simply too much to overcome.

Baylor coach John Gibson saw a few bright spots, but he also saw a few places where his girls need to improve.

“We could have been better,” Gibson said to begin his post-game comments.

“We turned it over too many times and we weren’t very patient on offense at the start.  Offensively, we played a lot better in the second half as we were more patient.  I thought our defense was okay in the first half, but we let up in the second.

“I thought we played well in spots, but these games are important to us as we need to keep getting better,” Gibson concluded.

Notre Dame coach Jason Hill could only shake his head when asked about his team’s performance.

“We’re averaging about 60 points a game and have three players in double figures, but we haven’t played this bad all season,” Hill said after his team’s record dropped to 9-5.

“A lot of that credit has to go to Baylor as they got us rattled offensively.  They forced us into some bad shots as we got frustrated, but we also gave them too many second and third chances.

“I thought that Baylor played well, but we hurt ourselves as much as anything,”Hill added.

Raegyn Conley scored 11 points in the second half and finished with 15 to lead Baylor.  Bella White finished with eight while Kailee Johnson had seven for the Lady Red Raiders.

Jolie McGann had 13 points to lead the Lady Irish while Makyla Skaggs followed with eight.  Averie Sheppard and Kate Ford, two players who are normally really good shooters, were both held scoreless in Thursday’s game.

Baylor also had an unofficial 29-21 advantage on the boards. 

Emma Martin had 11 for Baylor while Conley and White both claimed six.  Kenzie Campbell and Ford both had five for Notre Dame.

SEQUATCHIE CO. 70, BRAINERD 39: Balance scoring was the name of the game for the Lady Indians as they played five young ladies in double figures as they rolled past Brainerd by 31 points.

Peyton Longson led the way for the winners with 13 points while Rileigh Belk had 12.  Hallie Barger, Dylan Belk and Ella Edgmon all finished with 10 points apiece.

Tyliyah Ward scored 16 points to lead Brainerd while Amarah Robinson added 10 for the Lady Panthers.

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 64, GPS 22: The Lady Eagles had a 15-8 lead after one quarter, but it was a runaway in the final three stanzas as Signal Mountain had a 49-14 advantage to win going away.

Olivia Koontz scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead the Lady Eagles, now 11-3 following this latest win.

Lamiah Walker was next with 16 points, but she was more valuable in other aspects of the game as she finished with six rebounds, six assists and six steals.

Jaylah Love and Maddie Hubbard both scored six points to lead the Bruisers.

RED BANK 66, SILVERDALE 46: This game was somewhat close for a while as Red Bank had leads of 18-17 after one quarter and 35-31 at the half, but it was all Lady Lions in the second half.

The Lady Seahawks scored the first five points of the second half and had a 39-37 lead following Marlee Montgomery’s 3 with 4:46 to play in the third quarter, but the next six minutes belonged to the Lady Lions as they finished the quarter on an 18-3 run for a 55-42 lead with eight minutes to play.

By the time Bentley Stiner scored on a layup with 21 seconds to play, Red Bank’s lead was 64-44 and the outcome long decided.

“We didn’t start out too great, but we did what we needed to do in the second to finally pull away,” said Red Bank coach Bailey McGinnis after her team had improved to 12-3 overall.

Savannah Washington scored 22 points to lead the Red Bank attack while Raijena Bell and Arteya Scott were both in double figures for the Lady Lions with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Marlee Montgomery sank four 3-pointers for Silverdale and captured scoring honors for the Lady Seahawks with 19 points.  Laney Bone finished with 12 while Becca Lamb had nine.

GIRLS SUMMARIES

BAYLOR   12  11  14  7  --  44

NOTRE DAME  2  3  12  12  --  29

BAYLOR (44) – White 8, Restelli 2, Barton 3, Conley 15, Olesik, Hughes, Collins 3, Martin 6, Johnson 7, Wyke.

NOTRE DAME (29) – Sheppard, Soutuyo, Campbell 5, Ford, Wolf, Fillauer, McGann 13, Skaggs 8, Distasio 3.

3-POINT GOALS: Baylor 5 (White, Barton, Conley, Collins, Johnson); Notre Dame 5 (McGann 3, Skaggs, Distasio).

BRAINERD   8  11  13  7  --  39

SEQUATCHIE CO.  18  22  13  17  --  70

BRAINERD (39) – Bradley 5, Ward 16, Wright 2, Watson, Robinson 10, Belcher 4, Bell, Torrence, Coates 2.

SEQUATCHIE CO. (70) – Barger 10, A. Edgmon, D. Belk 10, E. Edgmon 10, R. Belk 12, Condra 5, Beavers 4, Smith, Mitchell 2, Givens 2, Longson 13, Bizzell 2.

3-POINT GOALS: Brainerd 3 (Ward 2, Robinson); Sequatchie Co. 4 (Barger 2, D. Belk, Condra).

GPS  8  4  10  0  --  22

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN  15  18  20  11  --  64

GPS (22) – Ford, Reel 2, Polk, Ball 4, Love 6, Hubbard 6, Bratcher 4.

SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (64) – Maddox 3, Hanson, Roberson, Kennedy 4, Hardy 8, Sitton 2, Walker 16, McCarter 7, Bruce 4, Koontz 18, King 2.

3-POINT GOALS: GPS none; Signal Mountain 2 (Maddox, McCarter).

RED BANK  18  17  20  11  --  66

SILVERDALE  17  14  11  4  --  46

RED BANK (66) – Washington 22, Loher, Crafton 7, Heathington, Scott 13, Ledford, Bell 14, Lee 8.

SILVERDALE (46) – Jarrell, Te. Gibson, Lamb 9, Hoover, Stiner 6, Kugler, Bone 12, Renegar, To. Gibson, Montgomery 19, Bolton.

3-POINT GOALS: Red Bank 5 (Washington 3, Crafton, Scott); Silverdale  5 (Lamb, Montgomery 4).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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