Tullahoma High School basketball teams hosted Marshall County Tuesday for their District 8-AAA opener. The Lady Wildcats defense led the girls to a 35-22 win, while the boys got a clutch 3 from Keegan Taylor to claim a 59-55 victory.
Lady Tigers - 22
Lady Wildcats - 35
Tullahoma showed out on the defensive side of the ball, holding Marshall County to 2 points in the first and third quarters. They only allowed double digit points in one quarter.
The Lady ‘Cats were led in scoring by Aubrey North with 12 points. She hit five shots from the field including two 3-pointers. Lily Melton scored 10 points, she also hit two 3-pointers.
The Lady Wildcats scored just seven points in the first quarter. Melton led the way with 5 points. She knocked down her first make from distance on the night in the period. Emilee Shuran scored the other 2 points at the foul line, making both of her attempts. Jachelle Ridley scored the 2 points for the Lady Tigers.
Tullahoma led by five at the start of the second quarter and expanded their lead by winning the quarter. Melton and Faith Vincent led the Lady ‘Cats in scoring with 3 points each. They both drained a shot from downtown. Shuran scored her last 2 points of the game while North scored her first 2 points of the game in the second. Maggie Steely led Marshall County with 3 points in the second, hitting a 3. Ridley and Demiyah Blakman. The Wildcats led 17-9 at halftime.
The Lady ‘Cats took full control of the game going on an 11-2 run throughout the third quarter. North led the team with 6 points in the quarter. She sunk two shots from beyond the arc, McLayne Bobo scored 3 points in the quarter, making a shot from the field and one free throw. Melton scored the other 2 points in the quarter from the field. Ridley again scored the only 2 points for Marshall County in the quarter. The Wildcats led 28-11 after three quarters.
Tullahoma’s lead was cut down to 11 before North hit a layup with a minute left to end the potential comeback. North scored 4 of the team’s 7 points in the fourth. Bobo scored the other 3, converting an and-one. Mashawna Ridley led Marshall County with 5 points in the fourth, hitting a 3. Blackman scored 4 points hitting two shots from the field and Keriona Thomison scored 2 points.
The Lady Wildcats went 4-for-7 from the free throw line and hit five 3-pointers. Marshall County was held to just two 3-pointers and went 0-for-2 from the stripe.
Tigers - 55
Wildcats - 59
Tullahoma finished off Marshall County with clutch late game scoring, they outscored their opponent 7-3 in the last two minutes of play.
Keegan Taylor led the team in scoring with 13 points. He hit three 3-pointers and went 2 for 2 from the line. Xavier Farrell scored 10 points, making five field goals.
The two teams traded runs in the first quarter. Tullahoma started on a 5-0 run, Marshall County countered with their own 5-0 run before the Wildcats had another 5-0 run, then the Tigers scored 7 straight. The Tigers led by 3 after the first quarter. Malik Grizzard and Jaiden Sanchez led Tullahoma with 5 points each. Grizzard hit a 3 and two free throws. Sanchez hit two shots from the field and made a free throw to complete the and-one. Alex Bobo sunk a 3-pointer. DeAndre Jenkins, Khani Johnson and Austin Tinnon all scored 2 points each. Jabrae Howard, Marcus Oneal and Aj Jones all had 5 points in the quarter for the Tigers. They led 22-19 going into the second quarter.
The ‘Cats opened the second quarter on a 5-0 run, capped by a vicious dunk from Johnson. Marshall scored 8 straight to make it 30-24. Tullahoma scored the last 8 points of the quarter to take a 32-30 lead before the break. Farrell led the team with 4 points in the second. Jayden Thompson scored 3 points. Grizzard, Johnson and Bryson Steverson scored 2 points each.
The third quarter was the only quarter of the game that both teams scored less than 10 points in the quarter. Marshall County led 39-38 going into the fourth. Tinnon hit a putback before the buzzer to make it a 1-point game. He led the ‘Cats in scoring with 4 in the quarter. Jenkins scored the other 2 points. Jones scored 4 points to lead the Tigers.
Taylor shined in the fourth, scoring all of his 13 points in the period. He got the scoring in the quarter started with a 3 to tie the game at 41. Then he hit two free throws to take a 43-42 lead. He hit a pull up jumper and then made another shot from distance to take a 48-46 lead with 4:14 left in the game. The Tigers scored the next four points to go up by two points with 2:30 left. Farrell scored the next 4 points for Tullahoma to tie the game at 52 with two minutes left. He scored again, with a nice assist from Johnson. The Tigers answered tying the game at 54 with 1:08 left. The ‘Cats turned the ball over and the Tigers made a free throw to go up 55-54 with 34.4 left. Taylor swished a 3 on the next possession to take the 57-55 lead with 22 seconds left. Jenkins grabbed the rebound after Marshall County missed a go-ahead 3. He was fouled and made both shots from the line to give Tullahoma the 59-55 win in their District opener.
The Wildcats hit 23 shots including five 3-pointers and went 8-for-13 from the stripe. The Tigers hit 21 shots, making four 3-pointers and went 9-for-24 from the foul line.
The two teams travelled to Central Magnet Friday for another District matchup, but the results were unavailable at the time of print. They will travel to Lawrence County on Tuesday, the Lady Wildcats’ game will tipoff at 6 p.m. with the Wildcats’ game following.
