Lady Eagles Blow out South Doyle

By: Lee Ramsey
lee@seymourherald.com
If it was a boxing match they would have stopped it early in a TKO.
The Seymour Lady Eagles totally dominated the South Doyle Lady Cherokees at South Doyle by a score of 58-32. It was a blowout from start to finish as every Lady Eagle played and scored.
The win gives Seymour a record of 15-4 overall and 5-3 in the IMAC putting them in control of their own destiny in the tough 2-AAA IMAC district.
Lady Eagle coach Brandi Stallings said this after being asked how it felt to have a blowout game instead of a nail biter, “To be honest, it felt kinda odd but good at the same time. With a long tough stretch coming up it gave us the opportunity to rest some of our kids and get some of the younger kids in.”
The blue and gold came out fast out of the gate as they hit three unanswered goals by Ashley McCarter, Erin Fine and Shay Brown.
At the end of the 1st quarter it was Seymour up 18-5.
After scoring 4 the first quarter, Mariah Flynn continued her domination the second quarter as the Lady Eagles continued to go inside and take advantage of their size. Flynn scored 7 more the second quarter and eventually ended up with a season high 15 points.
“Yea, I’m happy with it (how she played).” When asked about her improvement she commented, “I’ve gotten a lot better. We’ve started looking to the post more. This game we needed to get it into the post to take advantage of our size,” Flynn said about how she played.
When asked about being needed down the stretch the rest of the schedule she said, “I’ve got to get stronger; that’s all.”
“Mariah had a good game. She’s a young post player that is learning. She’s athletic with long legs and a long stride which allows her to get up and down the floor (fast),” Stallings said. “We’re trying to get her more mobile and sprint to the block. Mariah can out run some guards when she wants to. She’s getting over that freshman hump and is playing some big minutes for us.
“She stepped up big against Morristown West hitting two free throws with no time on the clock to send the game to overtime. That was huge. She’s going to continue playing big minutes for us.”
The halftime score stood at 36-12 Seymour.
The second half the Lady Eagles were a little less intense as Seymour pretty much just held on to the lead they had built as Coach Stallings got a lot of reserves in the game.
At the end of the third quarter the score stood 45-27 Seymour.
The fourth quarter was more of the same with the Lady Eagle defense shutdown the Cherokees who only scored 3 points the last 6 minutes of the game and did not score a point for over 5 minutes.
Following Flynn with 15, the Lady Eagle scoring went Jordan Ballard 10, Brittany Seagle 8 (continuing her accurate 3’s with 2), Shae Brown 7, Lexi Justus 5, Erin Fine 3 and Cydnee Harrell, Ashley McCarter and Brittany Cook all scored 2.
Coach Stallings talked about her strategy of going inside more, “We’re trying to get our post players more involved which gives us a more balanced attack. The first half of the season I thought we were very guard oriented. We’re trying to incorporate some things to make us more successful down the stretch. Our kids do a really good job of setting each other up and not being selfish. That’s the one thing I love about this team.”
It is obvious that attitude from the coach has been bought into by her players. That attitude will take this team a long way as the season winds down and into post season play.
Next up for the Lady Eagles is Sevier at home.