Lady Eagles sweep Pigeon Forge

The out of district rematch of high-powered county rivals last Tuesday night ended in a lop-sided 72-71 win by the Lady Eagles. The first meeting two weeks ago had been a close game broken open late by Seymour (23-1), but they started fast to sweep Pigeon Forge (20-7) this season. The Lady Tigers used a new defensive approach against Seymour that slowed the Lady Eagles for the first moments. Shanae Rayfield hit and was followed by a Kendra Newman three to give Pigeon Forge their only lead at 5-0 early. It was a 14-2 run by Seymour the rest of the quarter. Jessi Peterson made herself a second option in the paint by hitting seven-foot jumpers that opened up Brooke Johnson for her first two buckets of the night. SHS had the lead at 9-5 when Peterson cut into the passing lane for a swipe, threw the outlet to Ashley Murphy, who in turn dished to Heather Wright for a textbook fast break. Murphy sent a message in front of the loud Tiger student section when she got the ball back outside from Johnson who was triple-teamed and ended the quarter with a buzzer beating trey. The demoralizing play that the Lady Tigers have benefited from several times in the last ten games went against them and signaled a full swing of the momentum. Nora Ramsey got her first field goal inside for Pigeon Forge to open the second, but SHS was bringing the pressure. Murphy picked a slow pass and nailed both free throws after being fouled on the lay up. After Johnson hit both ends of a one-and-one she followed it with a transition bucket to put Seymour in front 20-9. Peterson and Johnson took turns in the paint around miscue by Pigeon Forge to push the margin on the double up at 26-13. After a five point first quarter, Johnson hit for 11 in the second as the Seymour motion began to negate the Pigeon Forge defense. Brittnay Mikels hit a jumper along the baseline and followed it with a steal and then assist to Wright that ballooned the margin to twenty at 34-14. Rayfield scored twice in the last minute for the Lady Tigers and closed the lead to 34-19, but Chelsea Harrell finished the clock with a drive around the left and up the baseline for a lay up behind the defense to give Seymour the final word of the half. Seymour came out with a statement to start the third, reeling off ten unanswered points against the district 2 runner-up. Johnson keyed the run with six points and an assist to Wright. Peterson gathered in the only SHS miss and put it back up and in. The Lady Tigers fought to keep things from getting any worse and kept the game bouncing off the 27 and 29 point mark for the rest of the quarter. Johnson ended the third with another perfect trip to the foul line. She finished 11 of 11 at the stripe as Moore benched four starters for the fourth leaving Mikels on the floor, as the bench was only four deep. Mikels led the offense in the fourth with eight of the team’s 13 points. Rayfield was the only Lady Tiger to reach double figures with ten. Newman and Ramsey each mustered 8. “This was great road win,” said Coach Moore who was named the District Coach of the Year award for Boys and for Girls play. “The girls played hard and the defense was good. They played Brooke very physical and we withstood that early and made some shots to open it up.” Johnson finished with a game high 32. Mikels added 10 points. Murphy and Wright teamed up for 14 points from the starting guards. Peterson connected for nine. “They were a very complete team tonight, “ said Lady Tiger’s Coach Johnson. “It’s very hard to stop them. They were good on the inside and hit outside.” Pigeon Forge hosted Carter Thursday before starting the first round of the district tournament against Cumberland Gap Monday night.