Foul problems down the stretch cost the Lady Tigers what appeared to be a sure fire win over one of the top five teams in the state as they dropped their home opener 73-68 to Pickett County this past week.

Their loss came despite a career night for Lydia Brown who led all scorers with 27, including four shots from beyond the arc in what began with the Lady Tigers shooting the lights out against the visiting Lady Panthers, some of the three pointers seemingly being launched from downtown Alexandria.

The hot shooting gave the Lady Tigers a 21-13 after the first period as only two Pickett players, Aaliyah Brown with seven and Laura Bibrey with six scored for the visitors.

The second quarter saw what would eventually cost the Lady Tigers the game as they went on a foul-fest sending the Lady Panthers to the line 22 times, the Pickett girls hitting 18 of their attempts from the charity stripe. The visitors only managed four field goals, the foul shots providing them most of their 24 second quarter points as they drew to 40-37 at the half.

The third quarter saw the Lady Tigers come out hot again with Brown getting six of her game total just after half. Joni Robinson had one of her two threes in the third while Kennedy Agee hit a three giving her three straight quarters logging a triple. Emme Colwell also had one of her two triples in the third giving her team a 60-50 lead going into the final stanza.

However, the earlier foul issues came back to haunt the Lady Tigers in the fourth as Lydia Brown, Emme Colwell and Madison Parsley all fouled out leaving the squad without their key offensive pieces for the last three minutes. It was during those three minutes the Pickett girls made their move. The Pickett press, which had barely phased the DeKalb girls all night began to work, leading to several turnovers and bad shot selections. The visitor were able to whittle the DeKalb lead away and finally took their own lead with under two minutes go. They would weather one last Lady Tiger run for the five-point victory.

Brown led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 27 followed by Kennedy Agee and Kadee Ferrell with nine, Megan Cantrell with seven, Emma Colwell and Joni Robinson both with six, and Kenzie France and Maddison Parsley both with two.

While taking the loss in a game they led until the final two minutes, the Lady Tigers can be heartened by the fact Pickett County is ranked in the top five of Class 1A and beat DeKalb in Pickett County last year 77-32.