Lady Eagles claim title Johnson shines, breaking school record

Going into last week, Seymour girl’s coach Randy Moore knew that his team was on the cusp of making school history by winning their first ever 3-AA regular season basketball crown. Things played out to his liking as the Lady Eagles picked themselves up after a disappointing loss to non-conference foe Heritage on Monday, and won the two games that counted by convincing margins, 71-50 over Alcoa on Tuesday, and 54-29 over Gibbs on Friday. The district championship wasn’t the only first on the week for the Lady Eagles. Against Alcoa, junior forward Brooke Johnson broke her own single game scoring record by piling up 43 points against the scrappy Lady Tornadoes’ squad. Johnson had broke the previous record, set by Ashley Teets at 36 in the late 1990’s, with a 39 point outing last year during her sophomore campaign. It should be noted though, that Johnson’s record is only a modern mark. Her mother, Jana Johnson, herself an athletic forward who played for the Lady Eagles, once tallied 43 points in the 1970’s when girls basketball was played three-on-three. The district title was a complete team effort though, and the coach attributes the accomplishment to the squad’s realization of the potential they have as a team if each player works to find their respective role. “We have a good group of girls,” said Moore, also a successful coach of the Seymour boy’s team, who filled the coaching vacancy left by former Lady Eagles’ coach Brian Channel last spring. “I think the key was them getting used to me as a coach, and me getting used to them as players. “The players make it happen though, the coaches just put them out there. The intensity level has picked up and that makes a difference. They’ve turned it up a notch.” Moore said that winning the district title is something that everyone involved with the basketball program, and the community should cherish. “They should be proud of themselves,” Moore added. “And everybody at the school and in the community should be proud. They’re beginning to try to maximize their potential.” Moore said that he felt his team had played a solid game in every match-up last week except the 49-44 loss to Heritage, in which the Lady Eagles led for the entire game before blowing a fourth quarter lead. “All three games were physical,” Moore stated. “Against Heritage, we played hard for three quarters and then blew a lead, it’s as simple as that. The girls played almost to perfection against Alcoa, and against Gibbs, we were playing to secure a championship and we did. It was a good effort.” As for the performance of Johnson, who also rang up 29 points against the Lady Mountaineers and a game-high 18 in the clinching victory over Gibbs, the coach was almost at a loss for words. “She broke a school record by scoring 43 points, what does that tell you?” Moore asked, as he pondered the overall impact that Johnson had made to the team during the week. “She had a fantastic week, she’s averaged about 30 points per game. If we can get 30 points from her, and the other girls continue to step up, we’ll be hard to beat.” In Monday’s tilt against the Lady Mountaineers, who have handed Seymour half of their six losses on the year, the Lady Eagles raced out to a 15-3 lead at the end of the first and parlayed that into a 26-15 halftime advantage. Johnson scored 17 first half points and the Lady Eagles’ defense held Heritage freshman point-guard sensation Cait McMahan to just seven first-half points. McMahan hit for only four points in the third and the Lady Eagles continued to chip away, taking a 37-28 lead at the end of three. Something must have awoken the 5-5 Heritage point guard, who has already garnered the attention of several Division I college teams, in the final stanza. She hit for 19 points and spearheaded a full-court press that caused numerous Seymour turnovers, as the Lady Mountaineers rallied back to outscore Seymour 21-7 in the fourth and get the 49-44 win. Seymour scoring: Brooke Johnson 29; Rachel Ketron 2; Ashley Murphy 2; Alesha Norwood 3; Danielle Wolfe 3; Heather Wright 5. Heritage scoring: Megan Gowan 4; Tomica Hodge 3; Anita Lawson 6; Cait McMahan 30; Allison Miller 2; Lauren Sparks 2; Kayla Wilcox 2. The Lady Eagles, perhaps learning a lesson from their fourth quarter meltdown the previous night, turned a close game after the first three quarters into an onslaught in the final eight minutes, erasing the Alcoa Lady Tornadoes thin hopes of a district championship and racing away for a 71-50 home win. The Lady Tornadoes used quick guard play in the opening quarter and matched Seymour 10-10 after the first buzzer. Both offenses began to get on track in the second, as Johnson scored the first three points of the quarter before Alcoa went on a 6-0 lead to go up 16-13 at the 5:13 mark. Alcoa led 22-21 following a Johnson three-point play with 3:14 left in the half. Danielle Wolfe help put the Lady Eagles temporarily in front by lofting an assist to Johnson, setting up a lay-up on Seymour’s next offensive trip. Alcoa retook the lead on a baseline jumper, but Heather Wright answered with a 12-footer and Wolfe nailed a trey to make it 28-24. The teams matched buckets in the final minute, as Johnson broke a 30-30 tie with a lay-up off a Wolfe assist with 15 seconds left in the half. During the first half, the Lady Eagles had repeatedly gotten the ball to Wolfe on the wing, who in turn, threw a diagonal timing pass down low toward the low block on the opposite side of the court. Johnson, showing the hands of a wide receiver, caught the ball in stride, and in position for an easy lay-up. That’s the play that doomed the Lady Tornadoes and helped set a new scoring record at Seymour High School. Alcoa outscored Seymour 9-5 over the first four minutes of the third and held their final lead of the night at 39-37 with 3:55 left on the clock. That’s when Johnson, who also had a game high 13 rebounds, was left alone behind the arc and nailed a three-pointer in transition to put her team back on top. Junior guard Ashley Murphy nailed a baseline trey on the Lady Eagles next offensive trip and the rout was on. The Lady Eagles led just 48-42 after the third quarter buzzer but embarked on a 19-5 run that put them up 67-47 with 1:10 left in the game. At that point Moore substituted in five new players as Johnson and her four running mates exited the court to a standing ovation with the lead secured and the district title just one step away. Seymour scoring: Brooke Johnson 43; Melissa Lesher 2; Ashley Murphy 9; Alesha Norwood 2; Jessi Peterson 8; Katie Sangid 2; Danielle Wolfe 3; Heather Wright 2. Alcoa scoring: Whitney Anthony 4; Daveda Dean 7; Samantha Dugger 2; Sarah Fowler 10; Kara Harris 14; Koral Stache 13. In Friday night’s pivotal showdown at Gibbs, play was sloppy during the first two quarters and that played right into the hands of the Gibbs’ team, who trailed just 21-15 at the break. Seymour extended their lead to 32-22 at the end of three and took control of the game in the first minute of the fourth on the shoulders of Wright. In just the first five minutes of the quarter, Wright, a junior point guard, made an assist for a Johnson lay-up, made an assist for a Peterson lay-up, came up with a steal and then threw an assist to set up a Murphy lay-up, picked up her first foul diving on the floor for a loose ball, blocked a shot, came up with another steal and converted it into a lay-up of her own and hit a lay-up in transition to put her team up 46-25 with 2:45 left. Moore substituted for all five players on the court shortly thereafter, and the Lady Eagles held on for the 54-29 win. Seymour scoring: Brooke Johnson 18; Rachel Ketron 4; Ashley Murphy 5, Shandan Notgrass 1; Jessi Peterson 6; Reija Rounela 3; Danielle Wolfe 11; Heather Wright 6. Gibbs scoring: Maegan Carr 9; Maeghan McNutt 8; Kendall McGill 7; Tanisha Roeback 3; Andrea Woodward 2.