Tullahoma basketball best Lincoln County
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Tullahoma hosted Lincoln County this past week and came away with two wins on the night. The Wildcats got back on track after their overtime loss to Coffee and the Lady ‘Cats found a way to get their first win in December.
Lady Wildcats snap losing streak against Falcons
Despite not having senior leader Nyjah Gibbs playing, the Lady ‘Cats made a fourth quarter comeback to snap a four-game skid with the 48-42 victory.
McLayne Bobo led Tullahoma in scoring with 19 points, including 8 in the fourth quarter. Lily Melton scored 11.
The game began with an Aubrey North 3. Melton drained another 3 to give the Lady Wildcats a 6-5 lead. Then the Lady Falcons went on a 14-0 run from forcing turnovers with a full-court press. Lakaiyah Barnes hit a layup as the quarter was ending to make it 19-8 going into the second. Isabella Lidstrom scored 5 straight points for Tullahoma making it 24-19. Faith Vincent stole the ball, which led to a Bobo 3 to make it 24-22. Lincoln County hit two free throws with a second left in the second to go up 26-22 at halftime.
After the Lady Falcons scored the first 4 points of the third, Bobo sunk a pull-up jumper from the foul line. Then she walked into a trail 3-pointer to make it 30-27 with 3:45 left in the quarter. Lincoln County hit a free throw and then Melton swished a 3 to make it 31-30. Then the Lady ‘Cats had a 4 point possession. Bobo hit the first free throw, Vincent grabbed the rebound after the second. She passed to Bobo who hit a runner making it 33-31 to take the first lead for Tullahoma since it was 6-5 in the first. Tullahoma led 33-31 going into the fourth.
The Lady Wildcats were held scoreless for the first 4:15 of the fourth and found themselves trailing 40-33. Bobo ended the scoring drought with another 3-pointer. Then Melton converted an and one to make it 39-40 with 2:50 left in the game. Lincoln County scored, but Tullahoma answered with a Bobo 3 to tie it at 42. The two teams traded possession without scoring, until Bobo hit a tough shot in the paint to go up 44-42 with 21.2 seconds left. The Lady Wildcats forced a stop and Melton grabbed the rebound. She was fouled and went to the line for two shots. She drained them both to go up 46-42. Barnes was fouled before the game ended and made both of her free throws to win by a final score of 48-42.
Tullahoma went 9 for 14 from the foul line and made nine 3-pointers as a team. Lincoln County went 11 for 15, but only hit one 3-pointer.
‘Cats back in the win column with 65-44 beat down
Tullahoma came out hot, hitting four 3-pointers in the first quarter. They went on to hit 11 throughout the game to dominate the Falcons.
Xavier Farrell led the Wildcats with 15 points and three made 3-pointers. DeAndre Jenkins, Khani Johnson and Keegan Taylor all had 10 points.
Farrell scored the first points of the game on a layup for Tullahoma. Then Alex Bobo hit a 3 on the next possession. Johnson scored another quick bucket and the ‘Cats led 7-0 after the first 1:15 of play. Taylor knocked down hit first 3 of the night, followed by another Bobo 3. The Wildcats led 13-0 with 5:45 left in the first. The scoring slowed down for the rest of the first, Tullahoma only scored 3 more points. Farrell scored them on a shot from downtown. They led 16-6 going into the second.
Bobo scored the first Tullahoma points of the second with an and one. Then a Farrell steal led to a Johnson layup to go up 21-8. Jenkins got on the board scoring 4 straight points for Tullahoma. Johnson hit a 3 with around one minute left in the half to go up 28-15. They took a 28-18 lead into the break.
The Falcons came out of halftime and scored the first 5 points of the third. Farrell ended that run by going on a 5-0 run himself. Johnson and Jenkins both hit 3-pointers in the third. Jaiden Sanchez also scored 3 points in the quarter, getting 1 from the foul line. Taylor added 2 points. The Wildcats took a 44-29 lead into the fourth.
Farrell began scoring for Tullahoma in the fourth by draining a shot from beyond the arc. He tied with Taylor for most points in the quarter with 5. Taylor also hit a 3. Jenkins hit a shot from distance in the fourth. Malik Grizzard, Austin Tinnon, Aiden Kelley and Sanchez each scored 2 points in the final quarter. The ‘Cats won by final score of 65-44 while never trailing.
Tullahoma went 2 for 4 from the foul line but sunk 11 3-pointer and made another 15 field goals. Lincoln County went 14 for 20 from the strip but only hit a combined 13 shot, just 4 from distance.
Both teams will travel to Shelbyville on Jan. 4, the girls’ varsity game will tip off at 6 p.m. with the boys’ game following.
