ATHENS, Tenn. – It will be a rematch of the District 5-AA finals when the girls title is decided here at McMinn County High School Wednesday night for the Region 3-AA basketball championship.
The McMinn Central Chargerettes and Sequoyah Lady Chiefs both advanced with semifinal victories on Monday and neither were close games.
McMinn Central improved to 27-3 with its 66-30 romp over the Loudon Lady Redskins in the first game of the day while Sequoyah punched its ticket for at least two more games with an impressive 74-43 victory over the Red Bank Lionettes.
Wednesday’s championship game is set to begin at 7 p.m. with the winner hosting a sectional game on Saturday with the runner-up playing on the road. Sectional winners automatically qualify for the Girls State Tournament, which begins next Wednesday at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
The boys will have center stage for its two semifinals games here Tuesday night with East Ridge facing Brainerd in the first game at 6 with Tyner facing McMinn Central in the second contest about 7:45.
SEQUOYAH 74, RED BANK 43: The Lionettes have made tremendous strides in the three years Bailey McGinnis has been their head coach and they won 19 of 30 games this season and advanced to the second round of the region after getting beat in the first game of the region a year ago.
Red Bank had been quite impressive in a 20-point win over Sweetwater at home on Friday night, but the Lionettes didn’t seem to have many answers for the up-tempo game that the Lady Chiefs threw at them here Monday night.
“Our goal was to take away their 3 shots, but we obviously didn’t do a very good job at that,” said McGinnis minutes after the lopsided game ended.
“We gave it our best shot and felt like we had prepared well enough to win, but we just didn’t do what we needed to do to win. This game certainly doesn’t define our season as we made great strides from last year until now. And we only have one senior, so hopefully we can learn from this experience.
“We did all we could against another good team and we never gave up. We played hard until the final buzzer,” McGinnis added.
Shelby Romans scored on a drive from the wing and Mya Kennebrew added another bucket on a short bank shot in the first minute of the game as Red Bank scored the first four points.
Madi Haymes knocked down a 3 for Sequoyah’s first points before Hailey Claiborne scored on a layup for a 6-3 Lionette lead with 3:48 to play in the first quarter.
Red Bank only managed five more points the rest of the stanza while the Chiefs scored 14 of 16 points in one stretch and had a 17-11 lead when the first segment ended.
The margin slowly stretched and the difference was 34-18 at intermission. The third quarter proved to be the back-breaker for the Lionettes as that 16-point lead at the half was 26 with eight minutes remaining.
The Lady Chiefs ended the quarter on a 20-6 run and the game was all but over at that point.
The biggest lead of the game for Sequoyah was 32 points and that happened twice in the final two minutes, the first at 71-39 following a 3 by Bailee Lane and again at 74-42 inside the last minute following a 3 from Mallorie Harrell.
Sequoyah coach Spencer Beaty seemed to be happy with the way his girls responded and he’s glad they have at least two more games, regardless of what happens Wednesday night.
“You have to be pleased in an elimination game like this, but I’m not totally satisfied as there’s a lot of things we could have done better,” he said after his girls had evened their record at 12-12 for the season.
“We watched a lot of tape and felt like we knew what their tendencies were. We felt like we’d have success if we could pressure them with a faster tempo and force them to do things they’re not used to doing. Our defense was the key as we just wanted to play harder, faster and stronger.
“We feel like we’re back on track and we really want to win on Wednesday. We deserve another opportunity against McMinn Central,” Beaty added.
The Lady Chiefs had three players in double figures, led by Lane’s 20. Kaitlyn Harris was next with 16 while Haymes added 15. Harrell tossed in nine and Emily Hawkins eight as eight of the nine Sequoyah players scored at least one point. They also shot the ball well from outside as they finished with a dozen 3s.
Babb was tops for Red Bank with 14 points. Jasmine Roberts had nine while Kennebrew was next with seven. Claiborne and Romans both finished with six.
Sequoyah won the rebound battle by an unofficial 38-32 margin as Hawkins grabbed 10 for the winners. Taylor Moses, Lauren Belcher and Harrell all snagged six each.
Kennebrew had nine caroms for Red Bank while Babb had five.
McMINN CENTRAL 66, LOUDON 30: This game was close for about 90 seconds as the score was tied at 4-4 before the Chargerettes finished the quarter on a 20-3 run.
The difference was 39-17 at intermission while a 21-3 edge by the winners in the third totally put the game out of reach.
Jacobi Lynn was tops for the Chargerettes with 18 while Jordan Wright added 12 and Bailey Martin 10.
SEQUOYAH 17 17 25 15 -- 74
RED BANK 11 7 15 10 -- 43
SEQUOYAH (74) – Lane 20, Moses 2, Miner, Harrell 9, Hawkins 8, Belcher 3, Haymes 15, Harris 16, Wiggins 1.
RED BANK (43) – Roberts 9, Babb 14, Romans 6, Brown 1, Claiborne 6, Evers, Bowens, Ndiaye, Stewart, Pratt.
3-POINT GOALS: Sequoyah 12 (Lane 4, Harrell 3, Belcher, Haymes, Harris 3); Red Bank 2 (Babb, Claiborne).
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)