CHESNEE, SC - A holiday tournament that started out as any other, turned in the Lady Eagles playing two nail biting games back-to-back to win the 2022 Turkey Tip-Off tournament on their home court on Tuesday night.
After a team didn't show up on Monday night, it forced the Lady Eagles to play a doubleheader on Tuesday that saw them defeat both Spartanburg Christian Academy 32-29 and CHASE High School (NC) 24-22 to win the tournament. "I think the situation with playing two games effected the mindset of the girls some and I wasn't pleased with some of the things we executed," said Chesnee head coach Derek Byars. "With that being said I was very pleased with our effort and how they kept fighting even though things weren't going well at times, I was proud of that." In the championship game it seemed every time the Eagles were able to put some separation between themselves and CHASE, the Trojans went on a run of their own to close the distance. The first half was a low scoring contest as the Eagles held a 9-7 halftime lead after leading 5-2 at the end of the first quarter. The second half started with Chesnee going on a 4-0 run with all four of those points coming from Nykerria Proctor, who scored six of the Eagles eight points in the quarter. Proctor led the Eagles in points against CHASE with 10 points along with two rebounds, a block, and a steal. "NyNy can get a shot any time she wants, it's just a matter of her getting her opportunities," said Byars. "Tonight, she had opportunities to drive, and she made some big shots for us." CHASE went on a run of their own scoring ten points over the final four minutes of the third quarter from Lexi Dickey (4), Cameron Hamrick (4), and Morgan McDaniel (2) to tie the game at 17-17 going into the final quarter of play. Hamrick led the Trojans with eight points along with four rebounds while Kinsley King added seven points and eight rebounds of her own. The Eagles went on a 6-0 run to start the fourth quarter getting baskets from Perrin Wood, Pearl Holloway, and Jayla Dunn. They also got a free throw from Haley Edmunds down the stretch to seal the victory for the Eagles. CHASE made a run to close down the lead, but Chesnee was able to keep the ball out of their hands for the last minute of the game with the horn sounding with Pearl Holloway holding the basketball for the Eagles at midcourt. Holloway scored four points for the Eagles on Tuesday night against CHASE, but her biggest impact was not with points as she came away with 14 rebounds and five steals. "Pearl gives us her best every time on the court," said Byars. "Some of her fouls come because of aggression and it's hard to be mad at a kid about that. She kept battling and kept us in the ballgame." In the first game the Eagles defeated Spartanburg Christian Academy as they played a group of younger players against the Warriors who eventually came away with a 32-29 victory. Chesnee got a big game from Maliyah Mackerson in the game against the Warriors as she scored five points with ten rebounds, eight blocks, and a steal. The Warriors got big games from Lauren Burnette who had 13 points, six rebounds, and three steals while teammate Tayte Calvert scored 10 points with three rebounds and four steals. Byars said while the games were closer than he may have liked, he couldn't be happier to be starting the season 2-0 and a tournament victory. "You can't be better than 2-0 in a two-game tournament," said Byars with a laugh. "It was our goal and that's what we got. We're a young team and we'll get better with more experience. I think we grew up some tonight and we just got to get back to enjoying playing basketball." In the only game played on Monday night, it was CHASE coming away with a 36-9 victory over Spartanburg Christian Academy. CHASE had two players score in double figures a Montana Honeycutt scored 16 points and Lexi Dickey added 10 points of her own. Tayte Calvert led the Warriors with three points. Chesnee will start their regular season on Tuesday after Thanksgiving in a home game against Broome before hosting Woodruff on Wednesday. Comments are closed.
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