It was a heart breaker Friday night in Smithville as an instant classic between the Lady Tigers and York Institute ended with an overtime buzzer beater by the Dragonettes as they downed DeKalb County 54-53.
The Lady Tigers once trailed in the game by 10 as the girls from York got out of the gates fast despite the return of DeKalb’s Kadee Ferrell, last year’s leading scorer, who has been sidelined with a leg injury this season. Ferrell, who Coach Danny Fish admitted was only about 80 percent, was held to four points in the contest.
The Lady Tigers were down 29-23 at the half but a pair of massive threes by Megan Cantrell in the third helped erase the lead as the Lady Tigers outscored their guests 14-8 in the period. Those were her only points of the night.
The fourth proved to be a back and forth tilt between the squads. Last year, DeKalb swept York during the regular season but were upset by the Dragonettes in the consolation game of the district tournament in Cookeville. This year’s first of two meetings proved just as competitive as DeKalb seized and held a slight lead through most of the latter stages of regulation. However, it was the line that ended up haunting the Lady Tigers as they went 13-for-21 on the night from the charity stripe, many of the misses coming in the fourth when there were chances to put the game on ice.
With the clock ticking down in regulation and the score tied after a late rally by the visitors, the Lady Tigers were able to stave off York but thwarting their attempt at a buzzer beater in regulation. Instead, the teams did battle in overtime after knotting at 48 during regular time.
A hoop and harm by senior guard Mya Ruch, who led her team with 18 on the night, looked to be the winning margin as the Lady Tigers went up by two with only a few ticks left on the clock. However, a heave at the buzzer by the Dragonettes crushed the hopes of the DeKalb fans that filled the arena.
Contributing in the scoring department for the Lady Tigers was Emma Colwell and Kinsey France, both with nine. Megan Walker had seven. The loss sets the Lady Tiger record at 2-4 going into Tuesday night’s game against Livingston Academy.
