Lady Tigers capture county title for 11th consecutive year

By Staff
Scot Beard
PHIL CAMPBELL – The varsity girls final of the Franklin County Basketball Tournament has become a showcase for Red Bay.
The Lady Tigers have used the tournament to pack their trophy case with several trophies and they added to the case Saturday night by defeating Belgreen 60-45 to claim title No. 11 in as many years.
"It was a hard-fought game," said Red Bay coach Donnie Roberts. "It feels good."
The first quarter was a low-scoring affair with Belgreen emerging with a 9-8 advantage. The Lady Bulldogs pushed their lead to 21-16 in the second before Red Bay ended the half on a 10-2 run to take a 3-point lead into the locker room.
"(That rally) killed us," said Belgreen coach Shauna Humphries.
The Lady Bulldogs kept up with Red Bay during the third quarter, but the Lady Tigers opened the fourth on a 8-3 run to pull away.
"Turnovers killed us," Humphries said. "We weren't getting enough shots and the ones we were getting weren't falling."
Whitney Sharp led the Lady Tigers with 23 points while Kirsten Sharp added 18 points. Also scoring for Red Bay were Caitlin Childers (8), Briton Bolding (6) and Morgan Duncan (5).
Amber Smith led the Lady Bulldogs with 17 points while Loren McVicker added 13 points. Also scoring for Belgreen were Katelin Barber (5), Deborah Billingham (4) and Anna DeVaney (4).