Baylor’s Kaleigh Glemons (1) shoots between Meigs County’s Jade Meadows (41) and Megan Lewis (11) in the 7 p.m. girls semifinal.
Meigs County’s Kelsey Woods (1) blocks the shot of Baylor’s Kaleigh Glemons in first half action in the 7 p.m. girls semifinal at Chattanooga State.
Baylor’s Kaleigh Glemons (1) gets the shot away before Meigs County’s Taylor Boggess can block in the 7 p.m. girls semifinal.The ending went just as John Gibson drew it up. Or so he jokingly said after his Baylor girls’ basketball team held off stubborn Meigs County 56-52 in Monday’s semifinals of the annual Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament.
Gibson’s Lady Red Raiders had led throughout the game, but after their lead was cut to two points with 7.5 seconds remaining, junior Mya Long missed a pair of free throws, opening the door for Meigs County to tie or win. But that’s when Baylor’s Kaleigh Clemons stepped in for a clutch steal and layup in the closing seconds.
“I told Kaleigh during the timeout to make sure she gets a steal and a layup after we miss both our last free throws,” Gibson said with a chuckle. “We were very fortunate to hold on to this one. We were exhausted by the end, and I think that had a lot to do with why we missed so many free throws.
“But Kaleigh is capable of just making a great individual play to save us, and that’s what she did.”
Clemons, a Vanderbilt signee, finished with a game-high 21 points and also had seven rebounds to help the Lady Raiders reach the championship game for a fourth consecutive year. They will face Arts & Sciences tonight at 7.