Barnes pumps in 31, Lady Ads blitz West 77-43
KNOXVILLE — The Farragut High School girls basketball team kept its perfect record intact and opened the District 4-AAA portion of its schedule with a victory at Knoxville West.
However, despite a 34-point win, FHS head coach Jason Mayfield was far from content with his squad’s performance in the league opener for both schools Friday night, Dec. 4
“We didn’t look good on the effort side of things,” Mayfield said after the Lady Admirals toppled the Lady Rebels 77-43 along Sutherland Ave. “Sometimes talent overcomes that, but we’re going to have to have better effort.
“They just played harder than us. West made plays because of their effort,” he added. “They play hard and they’re well-coached. (Lady Rebels’ coach) Caitlin (Hollifield) does a great job.”
Barnes pumps in 31
But Farragut (4-0 overall beginning the week) started fast as senior guard Macy Barnes, who led all scorers with 31 points, pumped in its first four points as she converted a pair of early West turnovers into two lay-ups to give the Lady Admirals a 4-0 lead before Hollifield, who was formerly head coach at Powell and Christian Academy of Knoxville, called a timeout.
“She’s finally healthy and she can have games like that. She’s done a good job leading us as a senior,” Mayfield said about Barnes.
“I just wanted to come out and find my rhythm and I found it,” Barnes said. “This was a good win for us because this was our first district win and we had momentum.
“We just wanted to keep our momentum going.”
Lady Ads pull away
Farragut boasted a balanced attack as Avery “Ace” Strickland scored 21 points. Keeleigh Rogers added 12 and Ashlyn Sheridan finished with seven.
The Lady Admirals didn’t pull away until the third quarter when they outscored West 21-5.
“In the third quarter we played better defense and we were finally able to pull away,” the Lady Ads skipper said.
The Lady Rebels trailed 23-14 after the opening frame.
“West, they’re good and they play hard,” Mayfield said. “They’re going to pose some problems for teams like they did for us tonight.”
Veteran forward Alexis Patterson scored 10 of her 13 points before halftime for West (2-1, 0-1),
