Marisa McCalla shoots while Tyner's Wanda Taylor defends as Boyd-Buchanan hosts Tyner in a girls basketball game on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.Marisa McCalla and her Boyd-Buchanan basketball team sent a message to the city as they rallied past the visiting Tyner Lady Rams for a 61-40 victory Thursday night.
"We hadn't been doing well after Christmas break and there was an article written about us," McCalla said. "When we saw that we got really fired up about the game today, and it encouraged us to go hard and prove everyone wrong."
The Lady Bucs definitely brought that fire into the game, as they outscored the Lady Rams 23-7 in the first quarter. Eight of McCalla's 24 points came in a 17-0 run in the period.
"They stepped it up in the first quarter," Boyd-Buchanan coach Susie Brown said. "I think we've started off slow a lot in games, but we did awesome tonight and the team is doing better."
McDonald's All-American nominee Maddie Wright also helped control the game early. She scored the Lady Bucs' first four points and eight of her 10 for the game in the opening period. She rarely got on the court after that.
"I was trying to protect her. We have a lot of games in the next week," Brown said. "Also, we don't have a lot of depth, so I'm getting some young kids in there and working with them. They're doing well. I'm just trying to work people in and get them playing time to get ready for the postseason."
The Lady Bucs had no problem continuing to get the job done in Wright's absence. Despite Tyner capitalizing in the second quarter with a 12-7 scoring advantage, Boyd-Buchanan built its lead again in the third quarter, when the Lady Rams failed to score in the final 3:44.
Boyd-Buchanan continued to coast in the fourth quarter until the game was in the books.
"The team did much better," Wright said. "Some people have doubted us a lot, and I think that stepped everyone up today. We are trying to prove to everyone else that we actually have a shot at being better than we were last year."
Contact Garrett Tumlin at sports@timesfreepress.com