Hoops for Hope set for Saturday on Signal Mountain

HOOPS FOR HOPE

Hoops for Hope V to be held Saturday at Signal Mountain.11 a.m.--GPS vs. Arts & Sciences; 12:30--Notre Dame girls vs. Red Bank; 2--Soddy-Daisy girls vs. Baylor; 3:30--Signal Mountain girls vs. South Pittsburg; 5--Signal Mountain boys vs. South Pittsburg

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

The fifth Hoops for Hope high school basketball benefit for the MaryEllen Locher Foundation Scholarship Fund is being held Saturday at Signal Mountain starting at 11 a.m.

This season the competition will include a boys' game for the first time since the original when Red Bank hosted Baylor in a girls' and boys' doubleheader. Four girls' games will precede Signal Mountain's boys taking on South Pittsburg in the finale at 5 p.m.

Eagles coach Steve Redman was behind the initiative for Hoops for Hope when he was the girls' coach at Red Bank. This is the second consecutive year it is being held at Signal Mountain.

The Locher fund helps provide college tuition for students who have had a parent diagnosed with breast cancer. Two scholarships were awarded at last year's Hoops for Hope.

Locher is a former broadcaster with WTVC Channel 9 in Chattanooga who died from breast cancer in June 2005. The day of this year's event would've been her 54th birthday.

Moving on in PP&K

Notre Dame sophomore linebacker Tyler Enos is among the seven area youths who have qualified to compete for the Tennessee Titans Team Championship in the NFL's Punt, Pass & Kick program. The competition will take place Sunday at LP Field in Nashville, when the Titans host the Arizona Cardinals at 4:25 p.m. EST.

Sectional rounds were held Nov. 24 at Finley Stadium. Enos won the boys' 14-15 age group with a total distance of 323 feet, 7 inches.

The other boys' sectional winners making the trip to Nashville are Tayne Davis (12-13) from Dayton and Andy Sullins (8-9) from Athens. The four girls' qualifiers -- all from Chattanooga -- are Shawnquelle Stanfield (14-15), Kiera Taylor (12-13), Benedicte Mutubwa (10-11) and Cadashia Collins (8-9).

Local PP&K organizer Richard West said the top four in each age group from all the NFL markets will move on to the national competition, which will be held at an upcoming AFC playoff game. In 2011 Enos became the third person from the Chattanooga area to qualify for a PP&K national when he was in the 12-13 age group.

High-scoring quarter

Sale Creek had about as good of an eight-minute stretch last Tuesday as any girls' basketball team in Hamilton County has had in recent memory -- particularly in Class A.

The Lady Panthers hosted Boyd-Buchanan and trumped their 28-point first-half output with a 34-point third quarter on the way to a 64-50 victory.

Former Sale Creek boys' coach Hugh Coulter, in his first season in charge of the girls' team, said with the top two scorers gone off last year's team, the early season had been a big learning process. Mikayla Crowder, Megan Storey and Brooke Welch combined for 47 points for the Lady Panthers, who in addition to their outburst held the Lady Buccaneers to six points in the third.

"That was an unbelievable quarter," said Coulter, whose team is now 3-8. "It was just like everything clicked all of a sudden. It was the most exciting basketball I've seen my girls play this year."

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