By: Lee Ramsey
lee@seymourherald.com
Under the leadership of Seymour head coach Brandi Stalling, the Lady Eagles seem to be getting better as the season goes along as they defeated Morristown East by a score of 52-37 at Seymour.
The big district win makes Seymour 14-3 overall and 4-2 in the IMAC.
The Lady Eagles exemplifies what true teamwork is all about.  A great coach once said, “It’s amazing what can be accomplished when no one cares who gets the credit.” These players don’t care. It’s all about the team which is a reflection on the coaching staff.
It seems that each game a different player steps up. This time it was Brittany Seagle’s turn as she scored a career high 20 points including 11 during a key stretch in the 3rd quarter, the last 3 minutes and 45 seconds.
“I shot a little bit better than usual tonight,” Seagle said.
In reference to all the threes she has hit this game and this entire season (some game winning), she added, “You gotta do what you gotta do.  They (the threes) are for my teammates (team).  I couldn’t do it without my teammates.  I’m lucky to be on a team like this.
“Coach (Stallings) is doing a great job with us.”
Lady Eagle Coach Brandi Stallings said, “That’s by far one of Brittany’s better games so far this year.  When she gets her feet set and she gets a good look at the basket; that’s what we want.  We want to see her letting it go.
 “Tonight, Kasey Norman did a good job finding her when she was open.  She’s(Seagle) came up big several times this season.”
The Lady Eagles wasted no time as they led at the end of the 1st quarter 10-4 thanks to scoring by Jordan Ballard and Mariah Flynn.
The 2nd quarter was more of the same as Seymour held on to their lead 22-18 at the half.
Any time a team holds another team to 18 points in one half, they have done a good job on defense.
Offensively, the Lady Eagles seem to struggle somewhat in the first half.
“The first half I thought we played pretty well defensively, but we were a little out of sorts offensively.  We were trying to settle in with our guards handling their pressure,” Stallings said. “We kind of calmed down later.”
The 3rd quarter was the separation quarter after Seagle went through her 11 point blitz.
With 4 minutes left in the 3rd quarter, the score stood 24-20 Seymour, the same margin at the end of the 1st quarter.
At the end of the 3rd quarter the score stood 37-20 thanks to Seagle’s shooting, Norman’s assists and Shae Brown’s points.
Another factor was the Lady Eagle’s outstanding defense which set up many of their offensive opportunities.
During that 4 minute stretch, the Lady Eagles held the Lady Canes scoreless.  Morristown East only scored 2 the entire 3rd quarter.
Freshman Mariah Flynn came through big the last 2 minutes of the game as Seymour went into more of a ball control offense protecting a 15 point lead. Instead of taking quick shots on fast breaks the Lady Eagles went into a half court game. They were running their offense but they were going for the sure shot which was to Flynn inside. Flynn scored 6 points in the last 1:44 to ice the game for Seymour.
 “We worked a lot this week on focusing on finishing games,” Stallings said. “We had that focus up to about 3 minutes to go in the 4th quarter and then we kind of went nuts again, but we settled down and finally finished one off.”
Next up for the Lady Eagles is a big IMAC and cross county rival matchup with Sevier County away.

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