Knowing that Lookout Valley had played four games in the last five days, South Pittsburg basketball coach David Phillips stressed the importance of an early run to his team.
The more well-rested Pirates, who had only played one game this week, looked like the fresher team in scoring the game’s first 11 points. That opening quarter proved to be the difference as top-seeded South Pittsburg cruised to a 60-39 victory in the District 6-A semifinals at Signal Mountain. The Pirates will now play rival Marion County on Tuesday for the title.
“We thought they might be tired from having played so many games this week,” Phillips said. ‘I was real proud of the way our kids got after them right away, especially on the defensive end. Our defense got a lot of turnovers and that really generated our offense.”
The Pirates, who haven’t won the district tournament since their only state tournament appearance in 1986, led by 15 after the first quarter and never allowed that advantage to dip below 9 points. The Yellow Jackets had won six straight games coming into Saturday’s semifinal round, but were never able to overcome 12 early turnovers.
Even after senior post Jiajuan Fennell, who averages a double-double, picked up his fourth foul in the first two minutes of the second half, the Pirates had an answer. Fellow senior Rameal Robinson stepped up to score 11 of his 15 points in the second half.