| Riverdale, Blackman, La Vergne, MTCS girls advance |
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By: JEFF JORDAN, Special to The Post
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Posted: Saturday, February 27, 2010 12:09 am
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Seven AAA Coach of the Year Hillary Hodges of Riverdale (24-2) may not have been feeling well and out of school some this past week but her team looked just fine in beating Columbia 79-69.
In other Region openers Friday night, Blackman, La Vergne and Middle Tennessee Christian School won and advanced to Monday’s semis while Siegel fell.
Boys’ action is tonight.
Trust me, it wasn’t nearly that close as host Riverdale had numerous 30 point leads before pulling off late and winning by 10. It took only one quarter for the RHS ladies to lead 28-7 and the margin ballooned to 52-22 at the half.
Columbia (9-20) tried everything to stop the bleeding. The Lady Lions called numerous timeouts and tried both a zone and a man-to-man defense in an effort to slow down RHS.
The red and gold was having none of it, and the lead remained at 30 at the end of the third quarter, 76-46.
Riverdale is going to be very tough to beat. They are shooting the ball well, the full court press and pressure defense is good and they appear to be intense and have remained coachable and preparing to win in practice.
If all this is true, then the Lady Warriors will not go down easily. They have now won 21 in a row and counting.
In the win, Shacobia Barbee, the District 7AAA and District Tournament MVP, had another terrific game with 27 points. Ashely Henry (three 3’s), Olivia Jones and Tyisha Petty all finished in double figures, while Candace Spurlock lead both teams in rebounding.
For Columbia, Sissy Claybourne finished with 17 and went over 1,000 career points in her career in what proved to be her last game.
In other results Shelbyville (17–11) narrowly beat Siegel, 54-46, while Blackman (21–6) came from behind with 18 from Shelby Campbell, 13 from NaTanya (the big T) Jackson and12 from Kelsey Nowlin and beat Lincoln County 64–51.
LaVergne (26–3), who trailed 13-0 early in the game, roared from behind and beat Lawrence County, 51–43.
Jasmine Brimm had 19 in the win, followed by MTSU signee Stephanie Myers with 12.
MTCS (22–8) also won its road game 52–35 over White House Heritage. Alex Martin had 22.
In the Siegel contest Shanice Cason had 16 and Kelsey Naish had 11.
So now the cotton is tall and the stakes are large as the region semis lie ahead in Shelbyville for all four teams Monday night.
You win and you play in the finals next Thursday and you play in the Sectional game on Saturday night.
You win this game Monday and you have a decent chance to get to the State. It’s happened for the Smyrna, Riverdale and Blackman girls recently.
You lose, and – well, don’t lose, you won’t like it.
La Vergne has never been to the State – they’ve been close but this time, with this talent, this is their best chance in 22 years.
Since RHS plays LaVergne, we know two things: one of them is going to be very disappointed and the other will be in the Region finals and the Sectional.
The matchups are Blackman vs host Shelbyville: Blackman has already beaten the Eagles twice, by 18 and by 5. That’s nice to know but it means absolutely nothing: this is tournament time in Shelbyville.
Riverdale has already beaten La Vergne twice, by 33 and 12. If La Vergne can go on the road and outscore a tough Lawrence County squad by 51-30 in the last 3 quarters, then the Wolverines may have recovered from their disastrous district tournament. We shall soon know.
Riverdale’s long ago 33-point victory over La Vergne was not a fluke but the margin of victory was. The second game was a much more realistic12 point RHS win. To further confuse matters, the big RHS win was at La Vergne and the closer of the two games was at Riverdale. Monday’s contest will be on a neutral floor.
Down in the Chattanooga Region, your girl’s winners were Cleveland, Walker Valley, White County and Cookeville – all very familiar names.
Saturday night the boys get it going with Eagleville at McEwen, Riverdale (17–16) at Columbia (17 –11), Smyrna (11-18) at Lawrence County (22-4), Siegel (20-8) will host Shelbyville (16-12) and District Champion Oakland (25-5) will host Franklin County (14-16). All games are 7 pm.
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