Cold Springs downs Red Bay
Red Bay’s Allie Kennedy (23) drives to the basket and shoots a layup against Cold Springs Tuesday afternoon.
The Red Bay Lady Tigers found their 2012-13 come to a screeching halt Tuesday afternoon at Wallace State after a 41-40 loss to the Cold Springs Lady Eagles.
The game was reasonably close throughout the 32 minutes of play, but despite having four different leads, RedBay was never up by more than two points.
The Lady Tigers were put in a hole early as the Lady Eagles outscored them 13-4 in the first quarter.
It was RedBay that had 12 points to Cold Springs’ 11 in the second, but that did not do much to close the gap.
“We had a bad first half,” RedBay head coach Donnie Roberts said. “We missed a lot of shots we had to make, and we started off in a hole.”
The Lady Tigers came back strong after halftime by matching the score line of the first quarter. This time RedBay outscored Cold Springs 13-4.
The gap was 24-16 in the Lady Eagles favor at intermission, but RedBay completed the comeback by taking a 29-28 advantage at the end of the third period.
The run started midway through the second quarter when a 3-pointer by senior Lexy Lindsey ended a scoring drought. To that point Cold Springs was up 20-7, after being ahead 20-6 before a RedBay free throw.
Unfortunately for the Lady Tigers, they would be unable to keep that lead.
Cold Springs hit a trey to start the fourth quarter, giving them another lead, this time at 31-29.
Lindsey and Allie Kennedy combined for a steal that led to a tie score at 33-33.
Two free throws by Kasey Sparks put the Lady Tigers up 35-33.
The Lady Eagles tied the game once again, and a layup on the following possession put RedBay up 37-35.
Time was winding down in the fourth, and Coach Roberts called in the four corners offense to kill clock.
Cold Springs tied the game at 37-37, and that would prove to be the end of the Lady Tigers last lead in the match.
RedBay attempted to hold the ball with 40 seconds left in order to take the last shot with a chance to win or tie, but a steal and foul led to two free throws made for the Lady Eagles, putting them up 39-37.
The Lady Tigers had one last chance to tie the game up or take the lead, but once again a turnover allowed Cold Springs to take and make two foul shots, which iced the game in its favor.
Kennedy ran the length of the court and made a 3 at the buzzer, but the Lady Tigers were still down by a single point.
“I’m proud of the girls for making the comeback,” Roberts said. In the second half we made some mistakes. The biggest difference was they made some shots and we didn’t.”
“I’m so proud of the girls. Lexy and these girls have had a fabulous season. We’ve got three eighth graders that have played a lot, so we’ll be back.”
RedBay hit just 13/51 from the field, including hitting 4 of 14 3s and 10 of 18 free throws.
Cold Springs hit the same number of field goals a 3s, but hit one more free throw. They hit those 13 field goals in 17 fewer attempts, however.
“It was very frustrating,” Lindsey said. “We have a good team, and usually once we start hitting shots we don’t miss. Today just wasn’t our day.”
Sparks led RedBay in points with 14. She also had 5 rebounds in the game.
Also scoring for the Lady Tigers were: Kennedy (10), Lindsey (7 points, 6 rebounds), Elizabeth Wooten (7) and Carlee Berry (2 points, 6 rebounds.)
“We couldn’t buy a 3 tonight,” Roberts said. “What really hurt us was the first half. Wer didn’t make shots, and being down 20-6 is a big hole.”
