The high flying DeKalb County cheer team hyped up the crowd during the instant classic Friday night between DeKalb County and Watertown.
Kadee Ferrell fouls out.
An Emme Colwell rejection with two ticks left on the clock preserved the win for the Lady Tigers Friday night as they fended off a valiant effort by Watertown team they had crushed earlier in the season, claiming their third straight win 53-50 in the instant classic.
The Lady Tigers actually trailed by five late in the game as the Lady Purple Tigers seemed to have their number all night despite the memory of being boat raced in their own gym earlier this year by DeKalb, 47-28.
The game marked the return of senior Kenzie France who had been side-lined with a leg injury for several weeks. She had six in her return.
Watertown made a statement early as they led 16-15 after one, their vocal fans packing the visitor-side of DeKalb High School gym after making the short 20-minute drive from the outskirts of Alexandria. Helping make that statement was Emma Christenson who was unconscious in the opening frame, hitting three shots from beyond the arc to lead her team with 16 on the night.
The visitors were able to increase their lead by half, going into the locker room with a 26-22 advantage over a surprised Lady Tiger team. Kadee Ferrell helped keep things close as she scored nearly a third of her squad’s first half points, going for eight in the first including four points from the foul line. The Lady Tigers went 83 percent from the charity stripe on the evening, something that proved to be the difference between winning and losing in the close tilt.
The Lady Tigers flipped the script in the third quarter as Megan Walker came out like a house afire, hitting a pair of threes as she had eight points on the night.
However, the dogged Watertown girls would not go away as they erased DeKalb’s three point lead early in the fourth quarter and actually took a five-point advantage at one point.
The game was knotted half-way through the fourth when controversy struck. DeKalb’s leading scorer, Kadee Ferrell was called for a foul she did not commit.
“The only person in that gym who thought she committed that foul was the referee,” said Coach Danny Fish. “It’s inexcusable.”
It is believed the referee mistook Ferrell’s number 32 for another player as Ferrell was nowhere near the site of the foul.
“The official looked like a deer in headlights,” Fish pointed out when his call was challenged by the official scorer. However, the referee stuck to his guns. It was her fifth foul, meaning she fouled out due to the phantom call.
However, the Lady Tigers hung tough thanks to Mya Ruch who hit four shots from the free throw line down the stretch, leading up to one final opportunity for the visitors. With the Lady Tigers up 53-50, Watertown held for the last shot, hoping to send the game into overtime. But, bad clock management left them trying to fire up a desperation shot which was blocked by Colwell, preserving the victory as the clock hit zeros.
The win was the third straight for the Lady Tigers as completed a sweep of Warren County earlier this past week, winning 50-46. They then went to Livingston and avenged an earlier loss by winning the district tilt 45-35 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score would suggest.
