With quick 18-0 start, Lady Ads secure 4-AAA tourney 3rd place
MARYVILLE — Farragut High School’s girls basketball team put together one of its best defensive efforts of the season Monday night, Feb. 18. And the defense netted the Lady Admirals a third-place finish in the District 4-AAA Tournament.
“It was one of our best defensive games,” Farragut head coach Jason Mayfield said after his fourth-seeded squad routed the host Lady Governors 61-41 at William Blount High School. “I didn’t know how we would respond after Saturday. But we played great defense and we played really well.”
Farragut (25-7) was coming off a heartbreaking one-point loss to rival Bearden and Mayfield was concerned the Lady Admirals might come in with a hangover.
But it was obvious from the outset that the veteran coach didn’t have much to worry about on this night.
Freshman point guard Keeleigh Rogers, getting a start, made a 3-point shot to open the contest — those were the first of 18 unanswered points FHS scored out of the gate.
“When you come out and get ahead 18-0, especially the way we scored those points, generating them from our defense, that’s good because that’s what we worked on in practice,” Mayfield said. “I didn’t know how we would respond and we responded well against a good basketball team that has a lot of good athletes and a lot of great shooters.”
The Lady Governors (18-13) were ice cold from the floor most of the night, but they finally got on the board when Alyssa Walker, a senior guard, converted a Farragut turnover into a transition layup with 1 minute, 4 seconds remaining in the first half.
The Lady Admirals led 21-4 by first quarter’s end, and Rogers said Farragut placed emphasis on playing good defense after losing a third game to Bearden over the weekend.
“We worked on our defense and we came in and we wanted to make sure that we did everything right,” Rogers said. “That loss to Bearden really hurt all of us and we just came in tonight and we came together as a team.”
Farragut boasted a balanced offensive attack as Brooke Christian led the way with 14 points. Ace Strickland and Macy Barnes scored 11 each while Morgan Carbaugh had nine.
Walker had 14 points to lead all scorers.
