The DeKalb County Tigerette season came to an end Friday evening as they came up short in the first round of the region tournament falling to the state’s fifth-ranked team in Crossville, 69-32.
“I thought our kids played hard,” said Coach Danny Fish following their loss to the Lady Jets. “Cumberland County has a good program. They knocked down more shots than we did. I thought we had some opportunities to stay in the game and get in the game a little bit deeper but we couldn’t knock down the outside shot.”
Their loss at Cumberland County came at the end of an injury plagued season but Coach Fish says he saw a spark in the team this year.
“I thought it was a good year for us making it this far. Our kids are very resilient,” he said. “The thing that people don’t see when they look at the wins and losses was that we were never able to put our best five out there because of injuries and health.”
The Tigerettes advanced to the regionals this past week after beating Watertown in the first round of the district tournament by a score of 48-30. They then went on to nip Cannon County, 41-39. They were then handed their first loss in the district tournament by Upperman by a count of 64-22 and then lost to Livingston Academy 50-27 in the district consolation game. They finished in fourth place in the district tournament.
The Tigerettes hung tough in the early going in their final game, and trailed by just 10 at the half, going to the locker room down 25-15.
The Lady Jets went on a scoring spree; however, in the second half, led by Miss Basketball Finalist Gracee Dishman who accounted for 15 of Cumberland County’s 23 third quarter points. She led all scorers with a game-high 39 points.
DeKalb had trouble finding the hoop during the Lady Jet third quarter run, bucketing only nine points. By the end of the third, the Lady Tigers had been doubled up and were on the short end of a 48-24 score.
The DeKalb girls couldn’t buy a three-pointer in the fourth quarter as they struggled to make one final run at Crossville. Meanwhile, Cumberland County hit four shots from beyond the arch, three of them by Kiara Wilson and one by Dishman. The Lady Tigers were outscored 21-8 in the fourth.
In the end, the Lady Tigers shot 67 percent from the charity stripe, making four out of six free throws. They made four shots from beyond the arch and hit eight field goals. Emme Colwell led the Lady Tigers with eight points with Mya Ruch second with six and Joni Robinson contributing two three-pointers. Lydia Brown and Kenzie France both put in four. Maddison Parsley had three and Malori Hart had one.
Fish believes another year of seasoning could be the key to turning the Lady Tigers into a force to be reckoned with.
“All these kids will be a year older next year and that’s where the rubber will meet the road,” Fish said. “These kids have something really special in store for them. I love them, they worked hard. They got a champion work ethic and champion attitude. Now it’s just trying to make championship shots.”
