Lady Eagles pull away from Greenback

Wednesday morning’s opening contest of the 2006 Pilot-Foodmart Winter Classic gave the 12-3 Seymour Lady Eagles a nice warm-up for Thursday’s showdown with area triple-A power Powell. Seymour got scoring contributions from nine different players and pulled away in the second half for a 69-50 pasting of the Greenback Lady Cherokees in the first game Wednesday morning at the annual holiday tournament played at Catholic High School in West Knoxville. Thursday’s much-anticipated showdown between the Lady Eagles and Lady Panthers is a matchup involving a pair of state tournament teams from a year ago—Seymour in double-A, Powell in triple-A. Both Seymour and Powell have lost three games this season but appear to be playing at a high level of late. Seymour’s opening game opponent at the holiday tourney had won seven of its first 10 games this year but couldn’t hang with the physical and deep Lady Eagles over the final two periods of Wednesday morning’s tilt. “Our girls played well,” Seymour head coach Randy Moore commented. “I was proud of the girls for coming back and playing hard after four days off for Christmas break.” Seymour previously defeated Greenback 51-33 on November 16 in a preseason Hall of Fame game at Seymour High School. The post-Christmas rematch between the two squads played out much the same as the first game did. The Lady Cherokees displayed some grittiness and stayed with the more athletically gifted Lady Eagles for a half but was never really in the game once Seymour started piling it on after the halftime break. The Lady Eagles were led by senior post Megan Peterson’s 14 points. Senior guard Jennifer Wilson fired in 13 points for Seymour. Moore is pleased with the recent emergence of another contributor from the SHS Class of 2007. Sweet-shooting off-guard Lauren Wright sank three treys in the win over Greenback, giving the coach a reason to believe his team could add yet another viable scoring threat from the perimeter. “I was really happy to see Lauren Wright hit those shots today,” said Moore. “She played great. She’s getting comfortable with her shot and gaining confidence with her 3-pointers.” Wright and freshman guard Casie Cowan each drained 3-pointers in the final minute of the first half Wednesday morning to help Seymour get out to a 32-27 halftime lead. Peterson knocked down a turnaround one-hander in the lane and added a rebound put-back after a Wright baseline trey in front of the Seymour bench to make the Lady Eagles’ lead 44-29 halfway through the third stanza. Crystal Suttles and Wilson added Seymour buckets over the next minute before Greenback hit a trey at the 2:10 mark of the third to cut the Seymour lead 48-32. Seymour’s Kendra Brown opened the final period with a 3-pointer, and after a pair of Greenback buckets, sophomore guard Ashleigh Elliott knocked down a longball to give the Lady Eagles a 58-41 advantage. Moore had pulled most of his starters from the game early in the fourth quarter when Seymour extended its lead to as much as 52-32, but opted to put his veterans back in the fray following a Greenback run that trimmed the Seymour lead to 58-47 with 3:18 left. Wilson scored five points over the next minute, Suttles hit a short jumper off a beautiful Wilson skip pass across the lane, and Peterson and Tara Heyboer added late Seymour baskets to give the Lady Eagles the comfortable win. Peterson also contributed seven boards and four steals in the game. Wilson pulled down three rebounds and finished with a team-high four assists.