Signal Mountain's Brooke Whitmire clears a rebound for the Lady Eagles in their Region 4-AA game with visiting Macon County. The Tigerettes proved too much for Signal Mountain and ended their season with a 60-38 defeat.
photo by Dennis Norwood
The Signal Mountain Lady Eagles entered the first round of the Region 4-AA basketball tournament as the District 7-AA champions and riding high on a seven-game winning streak.
The Macon County Tigerettes came to Signal Mountain Friday night for that first-round game on a two-game losing streak and still hurting after finishing fourth in last week’s District 8 gathering.
But on a night where the winner advances and the loser calls it a season, those folks who call themselves the Tigerettes headed back home with a smile on their faces after shocking the Lady Eagles.
The final score was 60-38, but it really wasn’t that close.
The Tigerettes came to Chattanooga with a purpose. They headed back toward Middle Tennessee with their mission accomplished after improving to 21-9 with the lopsided victory.
“Nobody gave us much of a chance after losing our last two games and finishing fourth in our district, but we came here with one goal in mind and that was to win this basketball game,” said Macon County coach Larry White after the game ended.
“I think our defense was a key and our run and jump offense caused them some problems, but they had a hard time guarding our guards. I think we can definitely play better, but we had them ready to play tonight. We tested our will after losing two in a row last week and they responded in a positive way,” White added.
The Lady Eagles scored first on a putback by Mary Witherspoon in the first minute of the game for a 2-0 Signal Mountain lead. Two free throws by Maia Rackel gave the Lady Eagles a 4-2 lead and the second of two charity tosses by Rackel gave the home team a 5-4 advantage with 3:50 left in the first quarter.
Rackel scored again a minute later to knot the score at 7-7 before the Tigerettes scored nine of the next 11 points for a 16-9 lead when the first quarter ended.
Witherspoon bagged a 3 midway through the second period to get the Lady Eagles within four at 20-16, but the Tigerettes then went on a 9-3 the rest of the way for a comfortable 29-19 lead at intermission.
Rackel scored five straight points early in the third quarter as Signal Mountain got as close as seven at 33-26 before Macon County finished the quarter on another run of 11-4 for its biggest lead of the game at that point of 44-30 with one quarter remaining.
Matters only got worse as the Tigerettes kept coming and scoring almost at will while the Lady Eagles looked like their interest was elsewhere than a region basketball game.
Signal Mountain coach Kendra Bell watched her team win 24 of 29 games before Friday’s contest and they played really well at times during that run, but the Lady Eagles get up and go had gotten up and went when this game started.
“I really thought we had a shot to win this game, but we just didn’t bring it tonight,” she said in a matter of fact way after a long talk with her girls in the dressing room.
“We’ll just try to forget tonight as we had a great season and repeated as district champs, but we just didn’t play well and there wasn’t a whole lot of good for our team tonight.
“I think their defensive pressure bothered us as we just didn’t match up well with them, but I thought number 24 was the difference in the game as we couldn’t do anything to stop her. But we just looked flat and I don’t have an answer in such an important game. What a huge disappointment for our team,” Bell concluded.
Number 24 for the Tigerettes just happened to be Keeley Carter, who scored 13 of her team’s 15 points in the third quarter and finished the game with 22.
Mattie Goolsby and Jenna Russell both followed with eight apiece while Kendall Bullington was next with seven points.
Rackel had an outstanding game as she finished with 26 points, but she had absolutely no help at all as Witherspoon was next with five.
While Signal Mountain’s season is now over, the Tigerettes will face Smith County at Sequatchie County High School Monday night in the region semis.
The rest of the District 7-AA teams had forgettable nights as well as Livingston Academy doubled Notre Dame 66-33 while Upperman was a 67-39 winner over Bledsoe Co. Smith County was a 49-38 winner over Chattanooga Christian.
MACON COUNTY 16 13 15 16 -- 60
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN 9 10 11 8 -- 38
MACON CO. (60) – Ashburn 2, K. Carter 22, Bullington 7, Goolsby 8, Russell 8, M. Carter 1, Mix 6, Stafford, Clariday, Colvin.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (38) – Whitmire 1, Davis 2, Roberson, Boals, Rackel 26, McGann, Witherspoon 5, Gravett, Koontz 4.
3-POINT GOALS: Macon Co. 4 (Russell 2, Mix 2); Signal Mountain 1 (Witherspoon).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)