Although Meigs County's girls are new to the Best of Preps holiday basketball tournament, the blueprint for reaching the title game was the same that has helped the Lady Tigers win 40 games since the beginning of last season.
A swarming defense sparked the offense and helped Meigs steadily pull away from Girls Preparatory School to claim a convincing 47-33 semifinal win at Chattanooga State.
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Toadsuck Daze 2007
Thousands of festival-goers filled the streets of downtown Conway May 4-6 to enjoy food, fun and entertainment during the city's 2007 Toad Suck Daze festival.
The Lady Tigers (11-4) will face two-time defending tournament champion Baylor in Monday's title game at 7 p.m. Baylor already owns a 23-point win over Meigs to open the season.
"It was a 12-point game going into the fourth quarter, but they got a spurt on us and put it away," Meigs coach Jason Powell said. "Hopefully we've improved since then and can play a closer game with them."
Meigs County's Taylor Boggess, left, shoots over GPS's Kare Ware during their Best of Preps Basketball Tournament semifinal game on Dec. 27, 2014, at Chattanooga State Technical Community College.After a slow start Saturday the Lady Tigers grabbed the lead for good late in the first quarter, continuing to pull away with a 22-5 second-quarter run on the strength of scoring runs of 8-0 and 6-0. Despite not scoring in the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers cruised to their seventh straight win this season.
"Our defense really got us going," Powell said. "That's been our staple all year, playing good, tough man-to-man defense. We got some steals and easy layups and that's what seemed to get us going."
After a steal and a layup by Taylor Boggess gave Meigs County a 10-point lead, moments later Kelsey Woods swiped a steal and dished off to Boggess for another layup and the Lady Tigers had doubled the Bruisers' output, 28-14.
By halftime Boggess had outscored GPS (10-5) by herself, 18-14, and the junior finished with a game-high 31 points in just three quarters.
Meigs' stifling half-court defense never let up and helped maintain a lead of 20-plus throughout the third quarter.
"After I made a couple of shots and some 3s early on, that gave me confidence in my shot," Boggess said. "Our defense sets the mood for the game, and once we got going, got some steals, we were really focused."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.