The Lady Tigers won the border battle against Warren County this past week but lost a key player for the year.
Freshman Guard Kennedy Agee was having the game of her life, already scoring 16 points while leading her team to a 53-50 victory over the Lady Pioneers in McMinnville when the incident happened. A collision with a Lady Pioneer early in the fourth quarter left her lying on the court for several minutes until she was helped off. The end result was a knee injury that will put the freshman on the shelf for the rest of the season, her recovery time expected to be eight to 10 months following ACL surgery.
It was the Lady Pioneers who took the early advantage on their home court, outscoring the Lady Tigers 10-6 in the opening stanza behind Grace Rains who had four and led all scorers on the night with 23 points.
Kadee Terrell led the Lady Tiger comeback in the second as she scored four of her night’s 10 points during a scoring run on the Lady Pioneer hardwood, narrowing the game to 23-20 as they went to the locker rooms.
The Lady Pioneers actually extended their lead in the third as Rains continued her scoring onslaught with eight points while Kennedy heated up and countered her with eight of her own, including two three pointers.
Down 41-35, the Lady Tigers were aided by an early three pointer by Agee that helped narrow the margin. However, a tangle up with a Lady Pioneer in a play that was declared a foul by the referee, saw her helped off the court, her season done. However, the loss of their leading scorer spurred on the Lady Tigers. Their success did not necessarily come from the field but instead at the free throw line as they found themselves going to the charity stripe down the stretch. DeKalb went six of eight in the fourth from the line. Meanwhile, the Lady Pioneer scoring dried up, the squads swapping the lead until the Lady Tigers were able to get the three point advantage that proved to be the winning margin.
Joining Kennedy in the scoring column against the Lady Pioneers were Emme Colwell with seven and Kenzie France with six. Mya Ruch had five and Maddison Parsley two. Lydia Brown added one.
Following their big win in McMinnville, the Lady Tigers fought tooth and nail with White County but came up short, 63-58 despite o enjoying an 18-4 lead after the first quarter. They traveled to Jackson County Saturday night and crushed their hosts 71-22. They, like the Tigers, begin the meat of their district schedule this week when the 3-2 Lady Tigers play host to York Institute here Friday night and then travel to Livingston Tuesday evening.
