The Lady Tigers finished fourth in District 8AA, getting upset by York in the consolation game while falling just short of dethroning the defending state champions in a defensive battle at Tennessee Tech.

The Lady Tigers began the tournament strong, doubling up Smith County, 52-26 in their opening round last Wednesday afternoon. The win made it a sweep of all three games over the district foe.

The game was never in doubt from the opening tip as the Lady Tigers seized an 11-7 lead after one thanks to Kadee Ferrell who led all scorers with 17 on the night and Emme Cowell who had 11. Smith County doggedly stayed in the game, hoping for a repeat of a tussle on their home court earlier this year in which they forced the Lady Tigers into overtime before losing. A slow shooting period for both teams kept hope alive for Smith as they went to the locker room down just 18-13.

Their hopes were dashed in the third; however, as the Lady Tigers began hitting from the perimeter and forcing turnovers through a tenacious press. With Mya Ruch disrupting the Smith County flow and adding 10 points to the mix, the Lady Tigers took a 34-21 lead going into the final stanza. From there it was making buckets from the charity stripe as all Smith County could do was foul as DeKalb slowed the game down in the waning minutes. The loss sent Smith home for the season.

With their opening win, hopes were high as the Lady Tigers faced their arch nemesis Upperman after losing to them twice, in lopsided affairs earlier this season.

Just like their earlier meetings, it was a defensive struggle as the score stood at 6-5 after one with DeKalb on the short end. The Lady Tigers found themselves down 24-15 by half as the Lady Bees went on scoring spurts, their outside shooting lethal when their sharpshooters were left open.

The Lady Tigers were unable to close the lead in the third, trailing 30-21 going into the final frame. However, that was when Dekalb went on its run, squeezing the Upperman lead down to a single bucket at one point. However, the Lady Bees showed a champion’s heart as they played keep away for most of the last five minutes of the game. Their patient ball control offense drained valuable time off the clock as they shot only in high percentage cases. A late game of fouling didn’t work out as Upperman was money from the charity stripe, sending DeKalb to the consolation game against York, 36-28. Ferrell led DeKalb with nine while Lydia Brown chimed in for six.

The Tigers came in as heavy favorites against York having swept them by double digits in both their previous meetings this season. However, the Dragonettes had other ideas as they kept the game close early, going to half-time with a 22-22 tie. Kadee Ferrell led the Lady Tigers with 13 followed by Lydia Brown with 11 and Myra Ruch with seven.

DeKalb found itself down by four going into the final stanza but were able to carve it to a two point deficit as Ruch went to the line and tried to miss her second shot intentionally. While the shot did rim out, York was able to get the rebound and seal a 41-39 win. They will now get to face Bledsoe in the Regional tournament while DeKalb will travel to Crossville this Friday night to face the Lady Jets at 7 p.m. In later action it was Macon County who claimed the district, beating Upperman 55-38 in a rematch of last year’s state championship game. The game this Friday is must-win as a loss ends the Lady Tiger season. The stand at 20-10 on the year going into Crossville.