The Lady Bulldogs came out on top following a back-and-forth tilt with Fork’s River while the boys could not keep up with the frenetic scoring pace set by the visiting squad as West celebrated eighth grade night in their next to last home game of the regular season.

It didn’t look very good for the Lady Bulldogs early as Fork’s River got out to a 9-6 after one with Merissa Spivey accounting for seven of the leading margin. A Madison Martin three in the first frame helped keep the hosts in shouting distance going into the second.

The teams split in the second period, getting five apiece with three of those coming from a triple by Aniston Farler.

Down 14-11, the Lady Bulldogs came out of the locker room with renewed vigor, erasing the Fork’s River lead with the help of three points in the quarter by Tess Barton. West entered the final period with a tenuous one point lead, the key to the win being defense as they held off several charges by the visitors while Martin was able to bucket four in the period. The final minute of the game saw Fork’s River miss shot after shot as they kept the ball in their own end. However, they were unable to buy the magic basket as West took the 27-23 win.

The Lady Bulldogs begin their post-season play in the James C. Haile Tournament in Murfreesboro against Savannah Christian at 4:40 p.m., Jan. 22 in the Miller Gym

The West boys found themselves in an early hole they couldn’t dig themselves out of as they went down 11-6 after one on the way to a 46-29 loss. The problem for West was it was raining inside the gym – raining threes from the red-hot hand of Luke Linder who canned six triples from beyond the arch on the evening, single-handedly almost outscoring went on the night as he had 27.

The Bulldogs had no answer as they trailed 24-17 at half, the aggressive play of Alex Antoniak both in slashing to the hole and on the offensive boards helping them stay in the game. Antoniak led West with nine points on the night.

Fork’s River increased their lead to 10 going into the final quarter as Linder finally shot himself out, all but six of his points coming in the first half. A late run was not in the cards for West; however, as Isaac Brown, with three hits from the foul line and a Noah Evans three were all the Bulldogs could muster down the stretch.

Helping Antoniak in scoring on the night was Isaac Brown with seven, John Ellis with six, Jamison Marler with four and Noah Evans with three.

The West Bulldogs will begin their post-season play Jan. 19 at 4:30 p.m. in the first round of the James C. Haile Tournament in Murfreesboro in the Miller Gym against Hermitage Springs. If they win they will play two days later in the same gym at 5:45 p.m. against York.