Game one

Jumping out with a decisive win, the Lady Tigers were victorious in game one of the District 8-AA Basketball Tournament Wednesday, defeating Watertown 48-30 at Hooper Eblen Center in Cookeville.

“The girls played hard and played well,” said Lady Tiger Head Coach Danny Fish. “It definitely helped with
the good start we got tonight. We came out and shot the ball well and that always puts everybody at ease and in tournament games its usually the one that gets the most comfortable the earliest that syncs in their game and falls into the flow and we were able to do that tonight.

“We got into a little bit of foul trouble but that’s because we were the most aggressive team on the floor. We need to have Emme (Colwell) on the floor a little bit more than she was tonight. I’m happy for the kids and now we get to move on to Friday and now we have a chance at the region.”

Leaving the Lady Purple Tigers searching for answers, DeKalb took an early 18-1 lead which turned into a 24-10 halftime score.

While Watertown came up with some offense in the third quarter, albeit mostly from the charity stripe, DeKalb’s Lydia Brown lit up the Lady Tiger offense, hitting four 3-point shots from outside the arc and giving her the game-high top score of 18 points in the contest.

The Lady Purple Tigers couldn’t close the deficit and DeKalb took the win.

Distributing the basketball well, adding to the Lady Tiger total were Kenzie France with eight points, Mya Ruch seven, Colwell six, Megan Walker four, Maddison Parsley three and Mallori Hart hit for two points in the game.

Top scorer for Watertown was Saranda Woodson with 10 points.

Game Two

The Lady Tigers claimed a second win in game two Friday, as DeKalb took a narrow 41-39 victory off neighboring Cannon County in Cookeville, propelling them into the semi-finals Saturday.

The Lady Tigers distributed the ball well with Mya Ruch, Lydia Brown and Emme Colwell all scoring 10 points apiece.

Adding to the total were Gracie Griffin with four points, Megan Cantrell three and Maddison Parsley and Kenzie France hit for two points apiece in the game.

Maleah Scott scored the most points for Cannon County with 14.

Game Three

The Lady Tigers played three games before facing the number-one seeded Lady Bees of Upperman Saturday, who had fresh legs making their first appearance.
The disparity was felt by the Lady Tigers who trailed throughout the contest, ending with an Upperman win 64-22.

‘We played three games in four days and they’ve not played,” said Lady Tiger Head Coach Danny Fish. “That’s what showed as the game wore on. The first half we did some things good… we probably could have done some things better but there’s a reason why they’re number one in the state.

“They’ve got a good club. We’ll come back and play in the consolation game on Monday and try and get the three-or-four seed and we’ll find out then where we’re set in the region and it’s all about that right now.”

Mya Ruch led the Lady Tigers offense with seven points in the game, Lydia Brown six, Emme Colwell four, Megan Cantrell three and Kenzie France shot for two points.

Riley Hurst led the offense for Upperman with 22 points in the contest.

Game four

The Lady Tigers finished their district bid in fourth place after falling to Livingston 50-27 in the District 8 AA basketball tournament at Cookeville.

"We did the best we could with what we had, with three of our four captains not in today that hurt our chances of being very good. We weren't swinging with a loaded bat tonight," said DCHS Lady Tiger head coach Danny Fish. "The kids played hard I'm very proud of them we didn't think we'd be where we are but that just shows you the kind of character we have on our team. We still have Friday to go and hope to have two of our starters back by then, that makes it tough between those kids it's a combined 30 points of scoring there."

Struggling for offense down three starters out with injury and illness, DeKalb trailed the entire ballgame to Livingston.

Scoring for the Lady Tigers were Emme Colwell with 8 points, Mya Ruch 6, Meagan Cantrell 5, Mallori Hart 4 and Maddison Parsley and Kenzie France both with 2 points each.
DeKalb now gets ready for a region game on Friday.