Despite taking different routes, both the Baylor and Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe girls’ basketball teams have reached the same destination.
While LFO is living up to its preseason hype and potential in Georgia — the Lady Warriors are currently ranked No. 5 in GHSA Class AAA — Baylor has been a work in progress through the early portion of the season, with the Lady Red Raiders becoming more consistent with each passing quarter.
Both teams used suffocating defenses to advance to the championship game of the annual Best of Preps tournament with double-digit wins in Thursday’s semifinals at Chattanooga State. LFO defeated Signal Mountain 55-42 and Baylor followed with a 46-29 decision over East Hamilton.
They will meet at 7 p.m. Friday to decide the tournament title.
“It wasn’t always pretty, but we defended well for the most part, and we knew if we were patient we could get the ball where we wanted,” Lady Red Raiders coach John Gibson said. “We were determined we were going to drive and get to the basket and not take a lot of outside shots.
“In the first half we missed too many layups, and in the second half we made them. We’ve shown these first two days that we’re resilient and we can play physical on both ends.”
Baylor (7-6) opened with a 10-3 run and limited the Lady Hurricanes to single-digit scoring in each of the first three quarters. Bella White led the Lady Red Raiders with 16 points, while Naiya McGhee led East Hamilton with 10.
As for LFO, knowing Signal Mountain would have a considerable advantage in the post made the plan simple for the Lady Warriors. They turned up the full-court pressure, harassing Signal Mountain’s ball handlers to the point that they simply did not allow them to advance the ball inside.
Five forced turnovers over a four-minute stretch of the first quarter led to a 10-0 run that put LFO in control early. The Lady Warriors built a 15-point lead in the second quarter and will now try to repeat as Best of Preps champs after beating another Tennessee team — Meigs County — in last year’s final.
“We build our offense around our defense,” said Lady Warriors guard Christina Collins, who finished with 16 points and was part of a backcourt that smothered Signal Mountain at times. “We try to put pressure on teams until we find out how well they can handle it, and we get a lot of confidence once we realize the pressure is giving them problems.”
LFO, which opened this year’s tournament with a convincing win over Meigs on Wednesday, extended its lead to as much as 19 in the second half before Signal Mountain (13-4) closed the gap to nine late.
After making just one 3-pointer in their tournament opener, the Lady Warriors connected on five, including four in the first half. Angel Simmons led LFO with 18 points and Zoey Gray Martin added nine.
The Lady Eagles were led by Cassidy Pawson’s 16, while Carlee Lowry had 13 and Ashlyn Rock 11.
“We knew they had a big advantage down in the post; they’re a lot bigger than us,” LFO coach Dewayne Watkins said. “They had two bigs on the floor who are also good at distributing the ball, so we wanted to make them work hard and not give them open areas to pass the ball to.
“We were able to take away what they like to do, and that’s where it started for us.”
Third place will be on the line Friday when East Hamilton and Signal Mountain face off at 4 p.m.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.