Lady Tigers take home county title
J.R. Tidwell/FCT The Red Bay Lady Tigers pose with their first place plaque after defeating Tharptown Saturday night.
The Red Bay Lady Tigers defeated the Tharptown Lady Wildcats 62-34 in the varsity girl’s final of the Franklin County Tournament.
Tharptown was able to hang with Red Bay through the first half, but the Lady Tigers proved too much to handle in the third and fourth quarters.
“We got off to a slow start,” Red Bay head coach Donnie Roberts said. “We missed two or three baskets, and we didn’t do anything defensively.”
Brae Sellars started off the scoring in the game by hitting a free throw to put Tharptown up 1-0. Two minutes later the game was knotted up at 3-3.
Sellars hit a lay-up at the back post to put the Lady Wildcats back on top, and Danielle Creasy extended that lead to 7-4 on a lay-up near the midpoint of the first quarter.
Kamri Sears hit a la-up to put Tharptown up by five, but Hannah Sharp narrowed the gap for Red Bay by hitting a 3-pointer.
The Lady Tigers claimed the lead at 13-12 just before the end of the first, but Kassy Baker hit a free throw to tie the game back up at 13 all to end the quarter.
Kasey Sparks drew an and one to put the Lady Tigers ahead again two minutes into the second. Lauren Pacetti drew an and one and Jade Ezzell hit a lay-up to give Red Bay a 17-13 lead.
The Lady Tigers hit three more lay-ups before halftime, but 3-pointers by Erika Sparks and Chloe Lane of Tharptown narrowed Red Bay’s lead to nine points at the break.
Carlee Berry started off the second half for Red Bay with a 3, kicking off an 18-2 run by the Lady Tigers.
“They gave us good, relentless pressure and we made too many mistakes,” Tharptown head coach Chad Green said.
The Lady Wildcats had no answer for Red Bay in the second half, allowing the Lady Tigers to pick up the 28-point win.
“We changed our press a little bit in the second and created a few turnovers,” Roberts said. “When you can do that and get to the basket it sure helps.”
Kasey Sparks led the Lady Tigers in points with 15. Sharp had 14 and Ezzell had 8. Also scoring for Red Bay were Monique Dulaney (7), Pacetti (6), Berry (5), Alaina Hester (3) and Lexy Lindsey (2).
Sears led the scoring for the Lady Wildcats with 7 points. Sellars and Creasy both had 6, and Lane picked up 5. Also scoring for Tharptown were Erica Valdez (4), Erika Sparks (3), Ally Chaffin (2) and Baker (1).
