DeKalb Middle took a split with Avery Trace this past week, the girls nipping the Cookeville squad 33-31 while the boys fell 49-28.

The girls improved to 8-4 on the season with the narrow win that was spurred on by Ella VanVraken who left a lot of ink in the scorer’s book, leading her squad with 14 on the night as she went six-of-10 from the foul line in addition to hitting four field goals.

The Lady Saints hammered Avery Trace in the first, holding their opponents to just two foul shots to take an 8-2 lead after one. They expanded their lead by one more during the second as VanVraken had five points while Cadee Griffin had four of her nine points in the period.

Avery was able to chisel into the lead a bit in the third as Allie Gilles hit a three but the real damage was done in the fourth when the Saints went silent on offensive, getting just four points, all of those from VanVraken. However, that proved to be just enough to hold on for the close two point win.

The boys didn’t have any such luck as their record went to 7-5 as Avery came out swinging, taking a 17-7 lead in the first despite a good period by Owen Snipes who had five of his team high 13 in the first. A five point second period did nothing to help the Saints despite a slight swoon by Avery which put up only seven in the second stanza.

Snipes was sniping again in the third, getting five more but he was up against as buzz saw as Collin Ayers was tearing it up, scoring 12 in the third alone as he single-handedly outscored the Saints with 33 on the night.

Contributing on offense for the Saints were Connor Close with four and Jordan Parker with five.