GRAY DEYOSports Writer

THS honored five students in the basketball program, as they all stepped foot on the THS hardwood for one final game against Franklin County. Senior players Xavier Farrell, Khani Johnson, Keegan Taylor, Isabella Lidstrom, and Lakaiyah Barnes were all recognized at center court for all the hard work, time, and dedication they have put forth into the basketball program for the last four years, as they all get ready for their next step in life–college.

The girls lost their matchup against Franklin Co., losing 48-45, while the boys went on to win their game 59-45.

Win or lose, this game felt somewhat irrelevant, it was just fun to see the five seniors play one last time at Tullahoma High School.

Lady Wildcats fall to Franklin County

The girls’ game got out of hand pretty fast, with the opposing Lady Rebels rifling out an 18-6 run with just 44 seconds left in the first quarter. The Franklin County advantage was built mainly off of turnovers that they then generated into fast break layups from their 1-2-2 press.  Head coach of the Lady Wildcats Chad Hibdon called a timeout, to try to rally his team back together.

“Settle down, get to our spots on our press, offense, and read the defensive adjustments they were making in their press,” coach Hibdon said regarding what he was telling his team to do in the timeout.

“They sped us up and we got out of alignment and made some rushed decisions.”

McLayne Bobo, junior guard for Tullahoma, laced in a three before the sound of the first-quarter buzzer, at least boosting a little life back into the game for the ‘Cats. The start of the game was unforeseen, with the Lady Wildcats winning over Franklin Co. earlier this year by 17 points, with a 68-51 win on Jan. 24. So, even though the Lady Rebels had an early twelve-point lead, the game felt well within reach for the ‘Cats to turn it around, and they did.

Bobo continued to rain in threes, matching her first-quarter pair with another in the second quarter. She and her teammates began to figure out and break down the Rebel press they heavily struggled with in the first quarter. This led to the Lady Rebels trying to create offense out of their half-court sets, and they were not having much success. Tullahoma went on an 8-0 run at the start of the second quarter, cutting Franklin County’s lead to just one, at 18-17.

“We had better spacing and our passing and decisions were much better during that stretch. I really liked how we responded to their run by cleaning things up offensively and doing a much better job with our defensive standards,” said coach Hibdon.

The game felt like it was the Lady Wildcats for the taking, but the Lady Rebels continued to hang around through the contest and shined when some mistakes Tullahoma made earlier in the game flared up again.

With 2:30 left in the game with a two-point Lady Wildcat lead at 43-41, Tullahoma committed back-to-back turnovers. Franklin County guard, Baylor Russell, was on the receiving end of both turnovers and converted one into a layup to tie the game, and turned the other into a pair of free throws where she would split the shots, giving the Lady Rebels the lead at 44-43. The teams then traded chaotic possessions, with two made free throws from Franklin County, eventually ending a minute-and-a-half scoring drought for both teams, giving the Lady Rebels a 46-43 lead with 36 seconds left.

Tullahoma went down and matched the two Lady Rebel free throws with a pair of their own, and then got a chance to take the lead after getting a stop on the other end.  Unfortunately, the turnover bug bit the ‘Cats once again. This gave the ball back to Franklin Co., as they went back to the line to drain in more free throws making the score 48-45 with 11 seconds left in the game.

The Lady Wildcats then pushed the ball down the court, and as the closing seconds of the game flew off the clock the ball ended up in Bobo’s hands.  She was forced to turn around and throw up a desperation heave, and as the final buzzer sounded she was met with denial. A Lady Rebel got her hand on her shot to tie the game, then handing the Lady Wildcats their 12 loss this season.

The Tullahoma girls’ basketball team will play their final game of the regular season on Feb. 13 against Giles County.

Boys’ basketball play small and win big

As the head official lined up the two teams for the opening tipoff, the jumper for Tullahoma, was noticeably shorter. Austin Tinnon, the 6’9” big man for the Wildcats, was out this game, resulting in senior guard Khani Johnson jumping at the center circle. Despite the Rebel center facing Johnson having a seven-inch height advantage, at 6’5”, Johnson rose above him and gave the Wildcats the opening possession.

“Khani is a college god athlete who plays the game at a really good pace and it is a joy to coach him. His skills allow us to play him all over the court, head coach of Tullahoma boys’ basketball Jason Welch said in regards to the versatility Johnson adds to the team with his athletic ability.

The center for Franklin County smirked and looked at his teammates, as he looked a bit in shock that he was starting the game on defense.

Johnson was the game-high scorer with 27, and had 17 points in the first half, helping the Wildcats virtually put an end to the game before the second half even started. They walked into their locker room after the first half with a 30-14 lead.

Without Tinnon, junior Will Hyden saw some run and despite not getting a bucket in the game, he had a massive impact. The three-year Tullahoma product helped his squad get several extra possessions, by grabbing and punching out boards on the offensive glass. This led to the two leading scorers this season for Tullahoma–Johnson and Xavier Farrell–getting multiple cracks at creating some points for the Wildcats. Farrell finished as Tullahoma’s second-leading scorer in the game with 18.

With the win, Tullahoma swept the season series against the Rebels, as they beat them earlier this year 65-37.

The Wildcats will look to close their regular season strong, against Giles County, who they also beat earlier in the year, winning the matchup 58-36.