Seymour shut down by Lady Panthers

An anemic offensive performance led to the Seymour Lady Eagles’ fourth loss of the season Thursday on the second day of the Pilot-Foodmart Winter Classic at Catholic High School in West Knoxville. Despite an impressive performance from senior post Megan Peterson, the Lady Eagles endured arguably their worst offensive showing of the season in 44-33 loss to AAA powerhouse Powell. The Lady Eagles (11-4) had averaged 63 points per game over their seven-game December win streak. One of the biggest factors in Seymour’s recent offensive prowess was the balanced offensive production up and down the lineup. Only four Lady Eagles registered in the scorebook Thursday against the Lady Panthers (9-3). Senior guard Jennifer Wilson, the team’s second leading scorer coming into the Powell game, was held scoreless by the big and athletic Powell squad. Peterson’s performance was noteworthy because she was going head-to-head with Lady Panther All-State candidate and University of Alabama signee Caitlin Hollifield. Seymour’s Peterson thoroughly outplayed the 6-foot Hollifield, outscoring her 18-8. Peterson used her superior quickness and overall athletic ability to get Hollifield into early foul trouble, making her a non-factor through most of the tilt. Too bad for the Lady Eagles though, a couple of Hollifield’s teammates picked up some of the slack on both ends of the court. Powell’s Christina Britton and Jill Herman each chipped in a dozen points to help the Lady Panthers prevail with a solid second half. Peterson was the only Lady Eagles’ player to reach double-figures. Point guard Tiffany McCroskey contributed nine points while Lauren Wright and Kendra Brown each knocked down one 3-pointer for Seymour. Powell jumped out to an early advantage but the Lady Eagles managed to battle back in the second quarter to even things up by the time the halftime buzzer sounded. The Lady Panthers owned an 11-6 lead after the first eight minutes of play until Peterson and the Lady Eagles finally managed to get something going in their half-court offense. Seymour actually held a small lead on a couple of occasions during the second stanza, which proved to clearly be Seymour’s most successful stretch Thursday. The Lady Panthers, however, pushed all the right buttons in the final two quarters of play, outscoring Seymour 14-9 in the third, and 15-9 in the fourth to earn the 44-33 final margin. Seymour’s previous low in point production this season came in a 42-33 district win over Austin-East and a 49-42 loss to McMinn County in the Heritage Classic Thanksgiving Tournament. Powell has now reeled off eight straight wins after losing its first three games while Hollifield was sidelined with an injury. Seven of Powell’s eight wins have been by double-digits. Seymour is scheduled to conclude play in the Pilot-Foodmart Winter Classic Friday afternoon against a squad from Georgia.