TCA girls hang on to beat Middleton

The Trinity Christian Lady Lions started District 15-A play Tuesday night with a win, and more importantly, a win over the defending district champion Middleton 75-70 at home.

“It is always great to start off district play with a win at home,” said TCA coach Matt Coble. “Getting a win over Middleton a perennial district power is even better.”

After taking a 29-23 lead into the locker room at halftime, TCA caught fire in the third period as they took a 20-point lead with less than two minutes left in the period. The Lady Lions went 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the period to help build their lead.

The Lady Lions’ run in the third was led by junior post Savannah Lee, who led all scorers with 26 points and 15 rebounds (the first of which was the 500th of her career).  Lee was not intimidated by Middleton’s Chelsey Perry, a UT Martin signee. In fact she drove the ball at the goal that helped in getting Middleton’s Chelsea Perry in foul trouble.

“Last year Middleton put us out of the tournament, so we knew we really wanted to play well and beat them tonight,” Lee said. “This win shows that we can play with anybody and will give us confidence going into the rest of our season.”

Middleton responded to the deficit and picked up the pace of the game with their intense full-court press and slowly whittled the TCA lead down.

Middleton’s Sequoya Warren led the comeback as she scored 19 of her team-high 25 points in the second half by continually driving to the basket for scores.

Middleton’s Chelsea Perry scored 14 points despite not being able to get into an offensive rhythm for most of the night due to a solid defensive effort by all the TCA post players.

TCA, under the leadership of point guard Brynne Lytle, regained its composure and hold on for the win. Lytle had 24 points and, more importantly, was key in distributing the ball to open shooters all night.

“Brynne did a good job of settling us down when Middleton was forcing us to play their fast-paced style,” Lee said. “She showed great leadership tonight.”

TCA is now 4-2 on the season and 1-0 in district and will travel to Madison on Friday for another big district game.