DeKalb County’s Kadee Ferrell takes one to the chops

The Lady Cavaliers gave DeKalb County a cold reception after their triumphant return from Florida Saturday, crushing the Lady Tigers 59 to 24 to complete a season sweep of the Smithville girls.

Cookeville didn’t seem to care that DeKalb County had just won the Daytona Beach tournament over the holidays as they went to work on the Lady Tigers early, taking an 11-8 advantage after one. That was as close as it would ever be as the Lady Tigers followed up their eight point first quarter performance with a six-point second period showing. As if things couldn’t get worse offensively, the Lady Tigers were able to muster just a single point coming out of the locker room in the third stanza, finding themselves on the short end of a 38-15 deficit in front of their home crowd.

The 24 points scored by the Lady Tigers was their lowest output of the season. Emme Colwell scored almost half that total by herself as she bucketed 10. Kadee Ferrell, who recently won the MVP award for the Daytona tourney had five.

Coach Danny Fish downplayed the impact the Lady Tigers’ championship trip to Daytona may have had on his squad, noting Cookeville was also traveling over the holidays. The normally hot shooting Lady Tigers had only one three-pointer the entire game against the Lady Cavs.

“I felt like we were trying to force things,” Coach Fish noted after the game. “We also looked a step slow and sluggish.”

The malaise prompted Coach Fish to pull his starters and insert some underclassmen.

“We just have to start scoring the ball better,” Fish said, noting the team will have to get deeper when it comes to scoring. “We have to have others to step up.”

The Lady Tigers will now face a rugged schedule, most of their games being against district opponents. The coach admitted, given their posture at this point, that DeKalb is likely playing for third through sixth in the district at this point. Upperman and Macon County are yet to lose in the district.

The remaining schedule for the DeKalb County teams are district heavy with only Warren County and Red Boiling Springs being out of conference. The remaining schedule includes:

Friday, Jan. 10: Cannon County - Home 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 14: Upperman -Away 6 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 17: Macon County -Home 6 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 18: Red Boiling Springs- Away 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 21: Smith County -Home 6 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 24: York Institute -Away 6 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 27: Warren County-Away 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 28: Livingston Academy -Away 6 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 31: Watertown -Home 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 4: Cannon County- Away 6 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 7: Upperman- Home 6 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 11: Macon County -Away 6 p.m.