Following a similar script from their first meeting one month earlier, the Signal Mountain girls’ basketball team used a late fourth-quarter rally to knock off rival Red Bank in Friday’s Times Free Press Best of Preps semifinals.
After trailing by nine in the fourth, the Lady Eagles battled back to force overtime and then raced out to an eight-point lead and a 46-41 win.
“I’m not sure how we won, but I guess we just found a way,” Lady Eagles coach Kendra Bell said. “I don’t know that we could have shot it any worse for most of the game, but we always talk about how even when you’re not shooting the ball well you can give great effort. That’s what we did tonight – we just kept giving great effort – and I’m very proud of the way we never gave up.”
Signal Mountain (12-3), which is in the championship game for a second straight season and looking for its first title, will face Baylor at 7 p.m. Saturday. The Lady Red Raiders (10-4) beat Sequatchie County 53-34 in Friday’s other semifinal.
In their early December meeting with Red Bank, Signal Mountain rallied from a six-point deficit late, scoring the final 12 points to win. In Friday’s rematch, the Lady Lions led from the midway point of the second quarter until the final two minutes of the game, when Signal Mountain used a 10-0 run to tie it and force overtime.