Lennex Walker slowly and steadily leads CSAS past Silverdale Baptist

Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 2/12/16. Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences' Sheridan Randolph (25) steals the ball from Silverdale Baptist's Emily Harkleroad (11) during their matchup at the Lady Patriot's home court on Friday, February 12, 2016. Arts and Sciences won over Silverdale with a final score of 49-44.
Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 2/12/16. Chattanooga School for the Arts and Sciences' Sheridan Randolph (25) steals the ball from Silverdale Baptist's Emily Harkleroad (11) during their matchup at the Lady Patriot's home court on Friday, February 12, 2016. Arts and Sciences won over Silverdale with a final score of 49-44.

A natural sprinter, Lennex Walker slowing down is the most unnatural thing she could do. But that's just what the senior guard did Friday to help Arts & Sciences rally for a 49-44 District 5-A basketball win over Silverdale Baptist Academy.

Although the Lady Patriots are more comfortable playing at a faster pace, Walker and her teammates used a more controlled tempo during a deciding 19-11 fourth-quarter run.

"It's always hard for us to slow down, especially me," said Walker, who scored eight of her game-high 19 points in the final quarter. "We want to push the ball up the floor and beat teams with tempo, so slowing down is really difficult. But we had to be more patient on offense and stop rushing our shots, because that was the reason we fell behind to begin with."

Similar to the script from Monday's game, in which the Lady Patriots rallied from a 15-point halftime deficit to beat the Lady Seahawks by five, CSAS trailed for much of Friday's rematch, falling behind by eight in the first half but cutting the deficit to two by halftime.

Although the Lady Patriots stayed close throughout the third, taking a short-lived lead, Silverdale Baptist rebuilt its advantage to five with 15 seconds to go in the quarter.

But in locking up the top spot in next week's district tournament, which they will host, the Lady Patriots (18-3, 7-1) opened the fourth period with a 7-3 run, then extended the lead to five with a 6-0 spurt midway through the quarter. They held the Lady Seahawks (20-5, 6-2) without a field goal for the final 3:59 of the game.

"We just don't quit," said CSAS coach Zach Dragoo. "To see the way this team has matured, the way they're willing to do the little things to make us good, it's really something.

"I think we had confidence from the way we rallied in that first game earlier this week, and once we got on a run late, maybe some doubt started to creep in on them a little bit."

Crystal Ealey finished with 14 points and 15 rebounds for CSAS, and Keturah Billen added seven points and five assists. Rachel Sanders led Silverdale with 16 points and Megan Lewis had 13, including three 3-pointers.

Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.

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