LOUDON, Tenn. - There will certainly be a familiar feel to the Region 3-AA girls' basketball championship game on Wednesday. Old rivals Meigs County and McMinn Central cruised past their semifinal opponents Monday at Loudon High School, setting up a fourth meeting this season and a rematch of last year's region final.
Top-ranked Meigs County used a strong second quarter to take command against Red Bank, then continued to pull away for an 81-54 win, and McMinn Central followed by holding off stubborn Signal Mountain 57-41. The region title game will be played at Loudon on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
"We know what they want to do and they know what we want to do, so it'll come down to whoever executes," said McMinn Central coach Johnny Morgan, whose team will play in a region title game for the 15th time in the last 19 years. "That's the bottom line. There won't be any secrets."
* McMinn Central 57, Signal Mountain 41: An 8-2 run by the Chargerettes (19-13) midway through the second quarter pushed a narrow lead to double digits. Although Signal Mountain (22-11) fought back to get within five twice in the second half, that was as close as the margin got, and the Chargerettes, who have won the last four region titles, ended the game on a 10-1 run.
"I thought they dictated too much of the game with their defense," said Lady Eagles coach Kendra Bell, whose team was looking to advance past the region semifinals for the first time. "They put tremendous pressure on you to handle the ball and execute every time down, and there were several times that we just didn't handle their pressure very well.
"I thought we battled against a good team that's very experienced in these type games. We're young and this is something we will learn from."
Melia Baker led all scorers with 25 points, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer just before halftime that gave the Chargerettes a 10-point lead, and Carlie Runyan added 15.
* Meigs County 81, Red Bank 54: The Lady Tigers (29-2) jumped out early, thanks to Jaci Powell's three 3-pointers in the first quarter. She scored 13 of her team's 18 points in the opening period and Kassidy Kenny then took over with 10 second-quarter points, helping extend a three-point lead to 15 by halftime.
Jacelyn Stone picked up the scoring slack in the third, accounting for 14 of her team-high 21 in that quarter. Kenny finished with 18 and Powell added 15 for the Lady Tigers, who have finished as region runners-up each of the past two seasons. Bailey Lee led all scorers with 25 points for Red Bank, which ended the season 20-9.
"We got off to a good start, but Red Bank was really handling our press in the first quarter," Lady Tigers coach Jason Powell said. "Then before I knew it, I looked up and we were ahead by 15. When we start getting turnovers, which lead to easy baskets, our energy level starts going up and we can put together some pretty good runs.
"I don't know if I like having to rely so much on our press getting us going, but it's been working well all season and I think it started to wear on them, especially in the second half."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.