South Caldwell holds off SM in sectional basketball semis

Melissa Collins looks to pass to a teammate in Smoky Mountain's sectional playoff loss to South Caldwell last week. Collins gave the Lady Mustangs a big lift off the bench with 10 points. - Herald photo by Carey Phillips

Caroline Jett scored 19 points for the Lady Spartans, and Alexis Anderson had 14.

The Lady Mustangs, who finished their season 18-7, were led by Tara Green with 17 points. Lindsey Lewis added 13 while Elexis Smith and Melissa Collins both netted 10.

"It was a very good high school basketball game with two quality team competing very hard against each other," Coach Cindi Simmons said.

Rebounding proved to be the difference. Despite a size advantage, the Lady Mustangs had a season-low 23 boards while South Caldwell claimed 31.

They did a good job against the Lady Spartan press and committed just 11 turnovers while making 46.2 percent of their field goal tries.

"The determining factor was the overall rebounding," Simmons said. "The teams that had beaten South Caldwell outrebounded them. We handled their press well."

SM held a 49-44 lead with 5:30 remaining after Green nailed a three-pointer followed by a 14-footer.

The Lady Mustangs would lead two more times, the last at 55-54 on Smith's fast break layup at the 2:28 mark.

Anderson put the Lady Spartans ahead to stay, 56-55, with 2:07 on the clock. Lewis went down with a leg cramp on the play and did not return.

A follow shot by Haley Barrett with 1:04 remaining upped the margin to 58-55.

Smith cut the gap to 58-57 with 45 seconds left, but the Lady Mustangs let the clock run down to 13.6 seconds before fouling Anderson. She made two free throws for a 60-57 lead.

After missing a potential game-tying three-pointer, SM had to foul again. Anderson hit one of two shots with 3.6 seconds left to seal the win.

The third quarter was extremely close. The biggest lead came at the 3:31 mark when Jett put South Caldwell up 34-31.

Green responded with a three-pointer tying it 34-34 with 3:13 to go. She gave the Lady Mustangs a 36-34 edge 20 seconds later on a fast break layup.

The Lady Spartans went back up by two, but Collins' basket with four seconds left tied it 40-40 entering the fourth period.

SM got off to a good start taking a 6-1 lead when Lewis scored on an inbounds play just 1:09 into the contest.

South Caldwell ran off 11 straight points as the Lady Mustangs went scoreless over the next four and a half minutes. Jett had four in the spurt, and Megan Setzer gave her team a 12-6 advantage with 3:31 on the clock.

SM cut the gap to 13-10 at the quarter break.

Jett's two free throws gave South the game's biggest lead, 19-10, with 6:46 remaining in the half.

The Lady Mustangs put together their best stretch of the night reeling off 10 straight points, the last five by Green, for a 22-21 edge at the 2:52 mark.

An 18-footer by Heather Pritchard with three seconds left allowed South to go to the dressing room tied 27-27.

Green hit seven of nine field goals, including a trio of three-pointers. Lewis made six of nine field goals and a foul shot. Collins was four of five from the field with two foul shots. Smith scored all her points from the floor.

Lewis made six field goals and a foul shot. Smith scored all her points from the floor. Collins connected on four field goals and two free throws.

Kaitlin Ritchie added five points, and Courtney Bryson had two.

Ritchie handed out seven assists. Green was credited with five, and Collins had four.

Lewis was the top rebounder with six.

Back to Sports: 03/01/01.