Second chances are starting to come around for the Rhea County High School basketball team as the second half of the season gets underway.

The Golden Eagles (6-8) showed their improvement and got some revenge on District 5-AAA rival Soddy Daisy High School Friday night.

In the two teams' first clash on Dec. 1, Soddy Daisy's Trojans won on a last minute lay up, but Rhea County won the rematch 62-54.

"This was a solid overall team performance and a good team effort.  [Soddy] came out in a box-and-one to shut down Logsdon [who scored 27 points in the first meeting]. I can't say enough about the other guys stepping up," Rhea County Head Coach Tony Williams said.

Junior Hunter Daniels led Rhea County with a career-high 18 points on the night as well as a team leading seven rebounds.

Andrew Facciani added 11 points to the Golden Eagle effort, followed by Tyler Wilkerson with nine and Andy Smith and J.J. Hill with eight apiece.

"In the pregame prayer, I thanked God for our kids' perseverance because I know he's going to do great things for us before the year is over. These guys never quit or stop working. You love to coach those guys," Williams said.

When asked what they did differently from their first meeting with the Trojans, Williams responded, "We didn't give up a lot of transitition layups. This time our guys got back and in position. The last time, Soddy scored on five uncontested breakaway layups. Tonight they had one or maybe two."

The Golden Eagles trailed 17-13 at the end of the opening quarter, but stormed ahead in the second quarter, outscoring their hosts 16-9 with the help of midrange shooting by Smith and an early bonus.

In the second half, Rhea County extended its lead even further when several Soddy players were forced to leave the game with foul trouble.

The hometown boys led 47-38 after three quarters, and an early bonus helped secure their victory.
"I like where we're headed, though it's tough to look at where we've been. We've already doubled last year's win total," Williams said.

The Golden Eagles went on to lose to Sequatchie County High School on Saturday 47-46 and district foe Bradley Central High School on Monday 75-55.

Meanwhile, the Lady Eagles are in a three-game slump after losing to Soddy Daisy 55-38 and Bradley Central 54-33.

Sophomore Sarah Nixon was Rhea County's top scorer against Soddy Daisy, netting 11 points, followed by Alex Hughey with 10 and Brittany Landreth with nine.

The Lady Eagles actually led 17-16 late in the second quarter, but it would be the last time they saw the lead in the game.

In Monday's matchup with Bradley, Whitney Thompson was the top offensive playmaker, sinking 10 points followed by Nixon with eight.

The Eagles were slated to host Chattanooga Christian School on Tuesday but results were not available at press time.

They will then host Cleveland's district-leading Lady Raiders and Raiders on Friday at 6 and 7:30 p.m.

Cathy Barnes can be contacted at cathy.barnes@rheaheraldnews.com.