Strong tourney start for FMS girls
Farragut Middle School’s girls basketball team will get a chance to avenge one of its early season losses when it hits the hardwood Saturday morning, Jan. 16, for the second round of the James A. Ivey Jr. Memorial Middle School Basketball Tournament.
The fifth-seeded Lady Admirals will answer an early wake-up call and head to Fountain City to take on No. 4-seed Gresham in the tournament quarterfinals.
“That was one of the teams that we got to play earlier this year, and that game was one of our two losses. I think we’ll be ready for Round 2,” Lady Admirals’ head coach Devan McIntyre said after her squad cruised past No. 12-seed Whittle Springs 47-8 Monday afternoon, Jan. 11, in FMS’s Bobby J. Henry Gymnasium.
The Lady Ads (6-2) had some offensive struggles early, as they missed several shots at close range — but that wasn’t what had the Farragut second-year coach concerned out of the gate.
“Early in the game, I thought we were lazy defensively. We were reaching,” McIntyre said. “We weren’t working hard and we weren’t moving our feet.
“But we got better defensively, and defense has been a priority for us all season. We want to use our defense to create our offense because we play better when we’re able to get out into transition.”
FMS led 18-6 at halftime.
Sydney English, who led all scorers, tallied 12 of her 14 points in the third frame.
Farragut boasted a balanced offensive attack, as Annie Priest scored nine points. Gabbie Vanacker scored all eight of her points over the final eight minutes. Lilly Mullins chipped in with six points. Josie Tarantino had four points and Lucy Brock finished with two.
Young paced the Lady Warriors with five points.
