The current high school basketball season has been somewhat of a struggle for the Notre Dame girls as they had won half of their 14 games prior to the opening quarterfinal game in the Best of Preps tournament that began at Chattanooga State Thursday morning.
But as the old saying goes, good things normally come to those who keep working hard and keep believing in themselves. That certainly applies to the Lady Fighting Irish as they won the biggest game of the day among girls with a stirring 41-36 victory over the Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe Lady Warriors, who just happened to be the two-time defending champion of this popular holiday gathering.
Notre Dame advances to the second girls semifinal on Friday against Chattanooga Christian, a team that whipped Meigs County by a 66-40 final. Tyner and Signal Mountain are the other two semifinalists after Tyner beat Red Bank by a 50-42 margin in overtime in the day’s first game while Signal Mountain was able to defeat Baylor by a 46-36 final.
The Tyner-Signal Mountain game is set for 4 p.m. while the CCS-Notre Dame contest is set for 7. Red Bank-Baylor and Meigs Co.-LFO consolation games are set for 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
NOTRE DAME 41: LFO 36: Early-seaspn injuries and a veteran player moving to Knoxville have been some of Notre Dame’s issues in the first two months of the season, but they have appear to have survived and are headed toward better days.
Beating the Lady Warriors was certain a step in that direction.
Notre Dame coach Jason Hill knows that he is leading a resilient group of young ladies, so he’s not really surprised with the way they have continued to battle.
“This was a really good test for us as we needed a close game like this. Most of our losses have been really close games, but we really challenged them to day and they responded in a positive way. Games like this will help us in February,” Hill said, looking forward toward the post-season.
“I felt like we had to play well late and I think we did that for the most part. We made some key free throws and played well enough to give ourselves a chance. We were able to create a few turnovers that led to big points, but we needed a win like this to give us some confidence as we move forward,” he added.
LFO coach Dewayne Watkins felt like his team had a good chance to win coming in, but it just didn’t work out the way he would have liked. The Lady Warriors are missing Christen Collins, a talented junior who is averaging more than 25 points per game, who is out with an injury.
“It was a tough game for us as we just didn’t have the confidence we needed,” he began after his team dropped to 5-4 overall.
“We have enough talent and I was fully confident that we could win this game today, but we just didn’t get our best effort. We still have a chance to win a couple of games here. It would have been nice to win this tournament for the third straight year, but it just didn’t happen,” he added.
There were three lead changes in the opening quarter as the Lady Warriors scored the final five points in the last 37 seconds to take a 10-9 lead at the first break.
With Violet Wright scoring six of her game-high 21 points at the start of the second stanza when Notre Dame regained the lead with an 11-0 run, the Lady Irish watched as the Lady Warriors scored the final eight points to trail by two (20-18) at intermission.
The Lady Warriors scored 11 of the first 13 points in the second half for a 29-22 lead with 2:25 to play in the third after Ziara Thompson made the second of two free throws. But the Lady Irish ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to trail 29-28 with one stanza remaining.
A putback by Zoey Gray Martin and a 3 from the corner by Christina Gass with 5:21 to play gave the Lady Warriors a 34-28 lead before seven straight points put Notre Dame back on top at 35-34 after Wright made the first of two free throws with 1:42 to play.
Thompson scored on a layup with 1:20 to play to put LFO ahead for the last time at 36-35 before Wright put the Lady Irish back on top with a putback at the 1:11 mark. Dayonna Perryman then sealed the deal with four straight free throws in the last 26.7 seconds.
Wright was tops for Notre Dame with her 21 points while Perryman added nine. Thompson was tops for the Lady Warriors with 13 points while Martin added nine.
TYNER 50, RED BANK 42 (OT): Jocelyn Brookins sent the game into overtime with a layup at the 21-second mark as the Lady Rams trailed for most of the game, but it was a different story in the extra period as Tyner had a 10-2 advantage in the extra period to win.
Shy Harrison was the leader for Tyner with 16 points, including six in the overtime period. Mariya Staton was also in double figures with 11 while Brookins added nine.
Malika Odum scored 20 points to lead the Lady Lions while Joufney Holloway was next with 18.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 46, BAYLOR 36: The Lady Eagles had rolled to a convincing 28-point win over the Lady Red Raiders on Dec. 16, but this latest game was much closer.
Riley Oleksik, who scored 16 points to lead Baylor, scored on a drive from the wing to put the Lady Red Raiders up 36-35 with just over five minutes remaining after Baylor rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit. The Lady Eagles never flinched as they finished the game on an 11-0 run.
Carlee Lowry scored 20 to lead the Lady Eagles, now 13-2, while Emily Redman added 15 points, all on shots from long distance. Holly Merritt followed Oleksik as she finished with 10 points.
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN 66, MEIGS CO. 40: The Lady Chargers bolted to an 18-7 lead after one quarter and extended the difference to 37-22 at intermission before cruising to their eighth win in 11 games.
Momo Moore, who is just an eighth grader and who exerts more energy and enthusiasm on the court than anyone around, scored 26 points to lead the Lady Chargers after scoring half of those in the second quarter. Aubriyana Camp was also in double figures for CCS with 14 points.
Lainey Fitzgerald was tops for the Lady Tigers with 13 points.
GIRLS QUARTERFINAL SUMMARIES
LAKEVIEW-FORT OGLETHORPE 10 8 11 7 -- 36
NOTRE DAME 9 11 8 13 -- 41
LFO (36) – Howard 3, Gass 6, Johnson, Collins 5, Ziara Thompson 13, Martin 9.
NOTRE DAME (41) – Baird, Spurgeon 4, Perryman 9, Pollak, Kitchings, McCormick 7, Violet Wright 21.
3-Point Goals: LFO 5 (Thompson 2, Gass 2, Howard); Notre Dame 1 (McCormick).
TYNER 4 14 11 11 10 -- 50
RED BANK 13 8 14 5 2 -- 42
TYNER (50) – Williams, Taylor 3, Shy Harrison 16, Brookins 9, Toney 2, Mitchell 7, Mariya Staton 11, Ellison 2.
RED BANK (42) – Wade 2, Wiley, Duer, Houston, Ervin 2, Bullock, Malike Odum 20, Stoudemire, Joufney Holloway 18.
3-Point Goals: Tyner 1 (Mitchell); Red Bank 2 (Odum, Holloway).
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 16 15 4 11 -- 46
BAYLOR 8 8 13 7 -- 36
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (46) – Walker 5, Clark, Emily Redman 15, Carlee Lowry 20, Rock 6.
BAYLOR (36) – Leach, Riley Oleksik 16, Carico, Thompson, Snyder 6, Willis 4, Sanders, Ro. Oleksik, Holly Merritt 10, Watson, Tennent, Moore.
3-Point Goals: Signal Mountain 5 (Redman 5); Baylor 4 (Oleksik 2, Snyder 2).
MEIGS COUNTY 7 15 8 10 -- 40
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN 18 19 18 11 -- 66
MEIGS CO. (40) – Payne, Mchone 5, Howard 6, Bales, Kranz 7, Moore, King 3, Smith 2, Schaumburg, Lainey Fitzgerald 13, Cornelius, Brown 4.
CHATTANOOGA CHRISTIAN (66) – Aubriyana Camp 14, Allen, Wiechmann 6, Duble, Momo Moore 26, Jean, A. Matthews 3, E. Matthews 4, Hatten 4, Rainey 7, Tipton-Williams 2.
3-Point Goals: Meigs Co. 6 (Fitzgerald 3, Mchone, Kranz, King); Chattanooga Christian 5 (Camp 2, Wiechmann, Moore 2).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)