Things were going good for the Arts & Sciences girls’ basketball team when coach Zach Dragoo called a timeout with 1:55 left in the third quarter against Red Bank on Wednesday.
When he called his next timeout with 4:40 to play, not so much.
In between the breaks in action, the Lady Lions scored 17 consecutive points, turning things around on the way to defeating the Lady Patriots 49-46 on the first day of the Best of Preps tournament at Chattanooga State.
Red Bank (5-3) plays GPS (7-4) in a semifinal at 7 tonight. CSAS (1-7) plays Soddy-Daisy (5-8) in a consolation-bracket game at 1 p.m. today.
As soon as the Lady Patriots took a 3-2 lead, they led the rest of the first half. Their largest lead of eight came early in the second half, and it was 36-29 when Dragoo called the timeout after Lennex Walker drove the lane for a layup.
“I called timeout to tell them, ‘We’re up seven and there’s no need to hurry. We’ve got to be patient offensively,'” Dragoo said. “And we weren’t. I guess it’s still our inexperience and inability to execute when we need to execute. I wish we had.”
Instead, Red Bank tied by the end of the third quarter, then scored the first 10 points of the fourth.
“We talked at halftime about how we were losing the game,” Lady Lions coach Bailey McGinnis said. “It was nothing special they were doing. We just needed to take care of the ball and execute. That’s it. Pretty simple.”
The Lady Lions’ lead was 46-40 when they began a march to the foul line that resulted in them missing seven of 10 free throws – including two front ends of one-and-ones – in the final 1:31. They at least protected the ball during that stretch, because CSAS got two 3-pointers from Walker in the last 35 seconds and Sheridan Randolph’s 3 from the left wing at the buzzer bounced off the rim.
“We killed the clock,” McGinnis said. “Sometimes we’re not too good at handling pressure. I told them, ‘When you get it, hold on to it and wait for them to foul you. We did what we needed to in the end.”
Shelby Romans topped Red Bank with 15 points, and Layla Babb and Mya Kennebrew added 11 apiece.
Walker led the Lady Patriots with 27.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.