Third for Lady Ads in tourney
After quickly falling behind — 8-0 and 19-8 — to Maryville in the first quarter of the consolation game of the 4-4A District Tournament at Farragut High School Monday night, Farragut’s Lady Admirals righted the ship to tie the game at 19 at the end of one.
The game was then back-and-forth until the last three minutes, when FHS used a 6-2 run to hold on for a 55-47 win.
“We weren’t really following the scouting report early,” FHS coach Jason Mayfield said about the Lady Rebels’ five treys in the first six minutes. “I think we came out a little bit asleep. We woke up and made it a little bit tougher on them.”
Down 19-8, Farragut began to press, and forced numerous turnovers, which entirely changed the tenor of the game. An accompanying 13-0 run gave the Lady Admirals their first lead, 21-19, early in the second.
Leading 34-30 at halftime, Farragut used a 5-0 to go ahead 45-40 lead after three.
With 3:19 to go and Farragut leading 49-45, crucial offensive rebounds by the Lady Admirals led to free throws that helped seal it. KJ McNealy had a handful of those, plus a key steal with 50 seconds left.
Maryville scored only two points in that final 3:19.
“Defensive rebounding,” said Lady Rebels head coach Taylor Clark when asked the difference in the game.
“Finally got down to a lot of balance on offense … good effort by our girls,” Mayfield said, as FHS sophomore guard Annie Priest led all scorers with 20 points. Senior Maelyn McNealy added 14. Zoee Harrison led MHS with 22.
“I really think we came out after the Heritage loss (Friday, Feb. 17) and we said we can’t lose again,” said Priest, who joined KJ and Maelyn on the 4-4A All-Tournament team.
