BENTON - The Lady Chiefs found themselves on the wrong end of a the halftime score on the road in Benton. The upstart Wild Kittens held a 3-point advantage with two quarters to play. Sequoyah shut down any hope of an upset with a 23-5 third quarter, and carried that lead to the end with a 57-34 victory.

The teams were knotted up at 14 at the end of the first, and Polk was excited about the tempo of the contest. Sequoyah was outscored 11-8 in the sec­ond quarter, marking the first time since the Cosby tourna­ment they had scored less than 10 points in a quarter.

After the half, the Lady Chiefs figured out their problems and began the third with a more deter­mined approach. Sequoyah’s defense limited Polk County to just nine points in 16 sec­ond half minutes. Lady Chiefs guard Josee Weese, who scored three points on the night, described the second half push. “We played better in the second half. We focused more, and just made shots. We weren’t going to let this win slip away,” said Weese.

Hunter Simpson led Sequoyah with an even 20 points. Kassidi Freeman net­ted eight points, pulled down 11 rebounds and climbed over the 500 blocks mark for her career with six on the night. Freeman now has 502 in close to four seasons. Savana Atchley scored eight points, while Danielle Slack net­ted seven. Emily Ingram had seven as well. Chancey Welshan finished with three, and Jessica White had a free throw. The Lady Chiefs will host McMinn Central in a battle for first place in 5-AA on Friday night inside the Chop House