seymour downs gibbs for district tourney championship

The rollercoaster ride that’s been the Seymour Lady Eagles 2007/2008 basketball season took its most thrilling turn to date Monday night as the resilient SHS squad escaped Gibbs High School with just their second district tournament championship in program  history after an electrifying 49-45 title-game win over the tournament-host Lady Eagles from Gibbs.

Seymour, which entered the District 3-AA Tournament as a third-seed after dropping two of its last five conference games and four of its last seven overall games of the regular season, upset defending tournament and state champion Austin-East, 50-45, on Saturday to earn a berth in the championship game against Gibbs, which defeated Fulton, 57-44, in Saturday’s semifinal round.

If the end of Seymour’s basketball season mirrors the beginning, as it’s done so far, SHS fans should get ready for more exciting twists and turns to come. Seymour (20-8 overall) dropped four of its first seven contests of the season before getting untracked and reeling off 11 straight wins. The Lady Eagles then stumbled through the homestretch of the 2007/2008 schedule but appear to have regained some of their mid-season magic of late with three straight wins to claim the District 3-AA Title.

Through all the ups and downs of the regular season, the one team that the Lady Eagles seemed to always be at their best against was the much-improved Gibbs team, which turned heads throughout the area this season with its surprising 12-0 start.

The only team to sweep Gibbs during the regular season was Seymour, which went on the road and beat the Lady Eagles of Gibbs (20-8 overall), 66-56, on Jan. 15 and handed Gibbs its worst loss of the year, 63-43, at Seymour on Feb. 1.

Seymour pulled off the improbable Monday when it stole the championship away from the favored tourney-hosts, accomplishing the unlikely feat of beating a quality team three times in one season. Monday’s tournament victory wasn’t as easy as Seymour’s first two wins this season over its rival Lady Eagles but it couldn’t have been any sweeter.

“I can’t even explain (how good it feels),” said Seymour senior forward Kendra Brown, one of four Lady Eagles named to the All-Tournament Team. “They say it’s just the second time ever that we’ve won the (district) tournament. I’m so excited for the rest of my team for being the ones that did it. It really hasn’t even sunk in yet.”

It is, indeed, just the second district tournament championship for the Lady Eagles. The last time Seymour brought the District 3-AA Tournament trophy home to the Smoky Mountains was 2004. That gives Lady Eagles’ head coach Randy Moore two district tournament titles in the last four seasons to go along with three state tournament appearances (’03, ’04, ’06) in the last five years.

Seymour’s 49-45 championship win over Gibbs Monday was like a microcosm of its season.

The Lady Eagles from Seymour limped out of the gate and saw the fired up Lady Eagles of Gibbs race out to an early 8-1 lead.

Tournament Most Valuable Player Tara Heyboer, a Seymour senior who averaged just over 23 points per contest in three tourney games including a game-high 20-points Monday against Gibbs, found her scoring groove in the second quarter for 12 of her 14 first half points.  Heyboer’s second quarter rising included the final four points of the half that gave SHS a 20-17 halftime advantage after trailing for the final time, 17-16, with 2:28 remaining in the second quarter.

Seymour’s sophomore sensation point guard Casie Cowan, who was also named to the All-Tournament Team, ripped a trey to start the second half and Heyboer knocked down a one-handed fade-away 12-footer with a hand in her face and then completed the old school 3-point play by sinking the subsequent free toss to give SHS a 30-22 lead with 4:17 left in the third.

Gibbs scored consecutive buckets to force Moore to ask for a timeout with 2:59 showing on the third quarter clock and with SHS clinging to a 30-26 advantage.

After the timeout, Seymour’s Tiffany Miles, a junior sparkplug who is like an instant burst of energy for the Lady Eagles coming off the bench, scored on a rebound putback, and rapidly-improving junior slasher Monica Rogers ripped a trey from in front of the Gibbs’ student section to put Seymour up 35-26 with 2:10 left in the quarter.

Gibbs scored a putback to trim the SHS lead to 35-30 with 10 seconds left in the third period. Seymour’s Cowan then finished the third-quarter fireworks just like she started them.

With the seconds ticking down and Gibbs in a full-court press, the heady 5-foot-3 10^th-grader weaved through traffic down the court before pulling up in front of the Seymour bench and draining a dramatic trey just ahead of the third quarter buzzer.

Gibbs refused to go down quietly though.

Rogers gave Seymour its biggest lead at 40-30 with a nice baseline jumper off a Cowan assist in the first minute of the fourth. Gibbs, led by scrappy point guard Morgan Burnette and smooth-playing wing Brittany Cavalaris, outscored Seymour 11-4 over the first five minutes of the fourth to trim the SHS lead to 44-41.

Play was stopped with 3:30 remaining as Seymour’s Cowan was whistled for her fifth foul when she was called for a block after being forced to make a quick transition from offense to defense when an SHS inbounds pass was intercepted by a Gibbs’ defender at the halfcourt line.

With Cowan forced to watch the final three minutes from the bench, Seymour junior Ashleigh Elliott, a junior 3-point specialist who was also named to the All-Tournament Team, had no choice but to play the role of hero for the Lady Eagles.

With Gibbs in a frantic full-court press, Elliott, who had six points in the game’s first three quarters on a pair of treys, navigated the Lady Eagles to the championship with her calm court-presence and clutch free throw shooting.

Following Cowan’s fifth foul, Burnette stepped to the line and sank both freebies to cut Seymour’s lead to 44-43.

After struggling on her first try of bringing the ball up against the Gibbs’ press, Elliott saved the day for the Lady Eagles on her next attempt when she pushed the ball down court, got her team in its offensive set and alertly threw a perfect entry pass to Heyboer to set a short jumper from the low block, giving SHS a 46-44 lead with 2:49 left.

Elliott actually did run the point for the Lady Eagles for a couple possessions in the first half when Moore decided to change the pace and give Cowan a break. The Seymour coach said both guards offer encouraging, but different, tools to work with when running the show at point guard. Moore said he likes Cowan's superior quickness and feisty defensive skills, but he said Elliott has the ability to make the offense operate smoothly with her steady and calming court presence along with her cool demeanor and scoring ability. 

After a Seymour defensive stand, Elliott and the Lady Eagles’ offense tried to play stall-ball and let some precious seconds tick off the clock. Elliott was fouled with 1:08 left and sank one of her two free throws to put Seymour on top 47-44.

Seymour’s Miles was whistled for a foul while closely guarding Burnette with 1:03 left. Burnette hit just one of her two freebies, trimming the SHS lead to 47-45.

A Gibbs' defender then successfully executed a legal mugging of Seymour’s Heyboer, wrestling the ball away from her near mid-court and giving the hosts Lady Eagles possession with a minute left and trailing by just a bucket.

Seymour had little option but to bite the bullet and play tough defense in the frenzied final minute as Gibbs tried to hold the ball for the final shot.  GHS asked for a timeout with .20.6 seconds left to design a final play.

When the ball was thrown in after the timeout, a Seymour player managed to deflect it and play became even more frantic as the game’s final seconds expired—seemingly very slowly for Seymour and all-too-quickly for Gibbs—until Burnette was fouled with .2.9 seconds left.

Burnette stepped to the line and was off the mark on her first attempt and purposely missed the second, unintentionally missing everything, which called for possession to go back to Seymour under the Gibbs goal.

Elliott took the inbounds pass in the backcourt and was fouled right away with .1.7 seconds showing on the fourth quarter clock. The easygoing SHS junior drilled both tosses to put the finishing touches on the Lady Eagles’ second ever District 3-AA Tournament Championship.

Seymour will host the Anderson County Lady Mavericks, fourth-place finishers form District 4-AA, in Friday night’s region tournament first round.