It was the best of time and the worst of times for the DeKalb County basketball teams as they swept Smith County this past week before going on the road to Jamestown and taking it on the chin at York.

For the girls, the fact they were heavily favored to roll over a hapless Smith County team meant nothing as it took overtime for them to get the district win in a hard-fought 59-52 game.

The Lady Tigers actually trailed at home following a low-scoring opening frame as Smith County emerged with a 7-4 advantage. The hosts would mount a second quarter run thanks to Emme Colwell who sparked her team with 16 points on the night, shortly after joining the 1,000-point club last week.

The lead was short-lived as Smith County, which came into Smithville without a district win, fought back in the third and held a one-point advantage going into the final stanza. Helping spur the Smith County confidence was the fact that court general Mya Ruch and the usually hot-handed Megan Walker had both gotten into foul trouble and spent a considerable amount of time on the bench. Summer Crook was able to step up and fill in some of the offense as she had eight on the night along with eight points from Gracie Griffin.

The squads traded punches in the fourth with Kadee Ferrell coming alive to score a dozen for the Lady Tigers. The teams ended up deadlocked at 48 following regulation. However, the Lady Tigers were able to preserve their district hopes for a top four finish by pulling away in overtime for the win.

They weren’t so fortunate at York Friday night as the Dragonettes vanquished them 57-48. The Lady Tigers found themselves down 13-9 after one despite another big performance by Ferrell who led DeKalb with 18 on the night. The girls from Jamestown continued to hold a four-point lead at the half, 24-20 even though Colwell was able to light it up with 10 on the evening.

DeKalb found itself just a single point back at one point before a late run gave York the separation it needed to claim the district win.

The boys’ had both feast and famine as the crushed Smith County 80-54 before getting smoked by the York Dragons 61-43.

The Tigers came out and hit Smith County in the mouth early as Dakota White opened the show with three first quarter buckets from outside the arc. The Tigers led 15-10 after one but saw Smith mount a mini-run to draw to within one at 15-14 in the second. A Brayden Antoniak hoop and harm helped spur an 8-0 Tiger run before the half to give them a 33-22 advantage going into the locker room. Antoniak had nine for the game.

Evans Jones set the tone in the second half as he scored his team’s first seven third quarter points on the way to leading the Tigers in scoring with 18 on the night. His scoring along with White’s 13 and 12 from Elisha Ramos gave the hosts a commanding 57-36 advantage going into the final frame.

The Tigers had no such luck in Jamestown later in the week as they found themselves down 12-7 after one and trailing by 14 at the half. No Tiger player was able to crack double figures in scoring as they were led by White and Jones, both with nine and Cook with 7. Lucas Hale added six.

The loss left the Tigers at 6-14 overall and 3-5 in the district. The Lady Tigers are 10-11 and 3-5 in the district.