Rhea County girls cruise past Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe 66-44
Rhea County’s girls wasted no time dictating the tempo they wanted, then used that fast pace to quickly pull away and beat Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe 66-44 in Thursday’s opening round of the annual Times Free Press Best of Preps basketball tournament at Chattanooga State.
Rhea County (14-2), which never trailed, held the Lady Warriors (5-7) to two points through the first five minutes of the game. The Lady Eagles’ harassing defense, which caused five turnovers in the first six minutes, helped push their lead to 18-6 by the end of the first quarter. They maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way.
“I’ve told the girls that they don’t have to be perfect on defense because we’re going to get so many possessions with our tempo,” Rhea County coach Darvin Gill said. “But I was really proud of the defensive effort we gave for the whole game.
“It was really big to jump out on them early, because that’s a dangerous team and you can get in trouble if you trade baskets with them.”
Rhea County will face 2016 Best of Preps tournament champion Baylor in a semifinal at 7 tonight.
Sophomore Mallory Hampton scored 10 of her game-high 19 points in the first quarter for Rhea. Teammate Micah Black, a Lee University signee, finished with 17 points, connecting on all three of her 3-point attempts in the first half.
“We were able to get a lot of different people shots and get them involved,” said Gill, whose team’s losses this season were to East Hamilton and perennial Class A power Clarkrange. “We’re about halfway through our season now, and we’re starting to feel good about where we’re at and what we’re capable of.”