Lady Eagles b-ball season rolling

The Seymour Lady Eagles now officially have the wheels rolling on another short but sweet middle school basketball season.
The fleeting middle school hoops season, though always exciting and filled with great rivalries and competitive play, goes by in a flash. Players, coaches and fans are forced to savor every minute of every game, making the regular season and the build-up to the postseason pass by so quickly.
The Lady Eagles, coach by Tracy McCoy, won two of the three games on last week’s schedule with the lone loss coming to William Blount on Thursday, November 9 in a 50-48 thriller.
William Blount jumped out to a big lead during the game’s early stages, spreading its advantage to 15-5 at the end of the first quarter and holding off a late-first half Seymour rally to stay in front by a score of 27-21 at the halftime break.
Seymour seventh grader Christina Slay helped get her club back into the game with six-third quarter points and seven-fourth quarter points, finishing with a game-high 22 at the final buzzer.
Sarah Gibbs and Chaney Graham also stepped up their offensive games in the final period to help pull McCoy’s Lady Eagles to within a bucket at the final horn but saw the fourth quarter rally fall just short, as William Blount held on for the 50-48 win.
The young Ms. Slay picked up where she left off in the fourth quarter of the William Blount loss when the Lady Eagles faced Northview Middle School the following Tuesday.
Slay started the game red-hot, sinking six buckets in the first quarter alone to help put her team in front 20-4. Courtney Ervin connected on a three-pointer and a free toss, Taylor Lolly sank a jumper and Jodie Wood swished a pair of free tosses to help contribute to the large Seymour lead after just the first stanza.
Slay scored 12 of her team-high 14 points during the Lady Eagles fast start.
Northview came to life on defense during the second period, limiting the Seymour team to just a lone Kellie Norman bucket during the entire six minutes of game time between the first quarter and halftime.
Northview, meanwhile, got five points from Courtney Moreau to help pull within striking distance, making it 22-11 at the half.
However, the Lady Eagles returned the favor after the halftime break by putting a clamp on the Northview offense during the third stanza, going on a 13-0 run to take a comfortable enough lead to be able to hold on after yet another bad offensive performance in the fourth quarter.
Despite their ups and downs on offense, the Lady Eagles still managed to claim the 37-17 win over their county rivals.
For Seymour, other than Slay, Wood had seven points, Ervin chipped in six points, Graham had four points, and Lolly and Ballard contributed two points each.
Northview was led by Ashley Stewart, who tied Slay tied Slay for game-high honors with 14 points of her own. Andrea Christie had two points for Northview while Airica Kraehmer chipped in a points.
The Lady Eagles capped the week with a 56-46 win over Heritage in a contest that featured plenty of offensive fireworks.
Seymour had eight different players that registered in the scoring column, led by Sarah Gibbs who hit 12 of 16 free throws to finish with a game-high 23 points.
Cydnee Harrell and Slay contributed nine points each for the Lady Eagles during the exciting 10-point win last Thursday night.
After the Lady Eagles had staked a 15-6 advantage after the first quarter of play, Heritage fired back with a vengeance, outscoring Seymour 16-9 during the second quarter to trim the Lady Eagles’ halftime lead to just 24-22.
Gibbs shined the brightest in the third quarter, scoring on two short-to-mid-range buckets to go along with a pressure-packed trey to help her squad push its precarious lead to 38-32 entering the final stanza.
The final six minutes seemed to take an eternity, as the Lady Eagles set up shop at the foul line with the clock stopped as Heritage used the timeless strategy of fouling to stop the clock while playing catch-up.
However, Seymour rose to the occasion by swishing 13 of their 18 fourth-quarter free throw attempts to hold on down the stretch for the win.
Gibbs nailed 4-of-6 attempts from the charity stripe over the final six minutes, while Harrell came through with a huge trey and was 4-of-4 from the foul line.