Cannon girls hold on for victory

KEITH READY/ Cannon Courier

It's been well over 30 consecutive games since the DeKalb County Lady Tigers have beaten the Cannon County Lionettes. While most of the games since the last win in January of 1999 have been blowouts, the Smithville team almost ended that streak in overtime Tuesday January 19th when the two teams met for the first time this season.

It didn't take the Lionettes long to build a comfortable lead. In fact they led by 13 at halftime and by as many as 15 in the third quarter. DeKalb fought back by slapping on a full-court press which the Lionettes hadn't seen up to that point.

That press proved to be valuable for the Lady Tigers as Cannon couldn't handle it and turned the ball over several times. DeKalb converted the turnovers to points and trimmed the 15 point lead down to seven by the end of the third quarter. The Lady Tigers relentless pressure did not let up in the fourth quarter. DeKalb's Morgan Pedigo who fired up 17 three point attempts in the game and only hit three of them connected on two of them in the comeback in the fourth quarter including the one that would tie the game to send it into overtime.

Meanwhile the Lionettes had several opportunities to stay one step ahead in the game but couldn't nail down the crucial free throws. The game was tied at 57 each heading into the overtime period.

DeKalb struck first in overtime with two made free throws from Ashli Chew. But then Maleah Scott took over on the inside scoring 5 consecutive points on two trips down the floor as the Lionettes escaped from DeKalb with a 63-59 win. Scott was the leading Cannon County hoopster with 26 points. Lionettes record improves to 9-12, 3-4 (District 8-AA)

Box Scores
Cannon County 63
DeKalb County 59 (OT)

Cannon Co: Scott-26, King-12, Walkup-8, Gaither-8, Mooneyham-6,Knox-3
Team Totals: FG: 26-56 3PT:1-8 FT: 6-21
DeKalb County: Chew-23, Bolding-19, Pedigo-9, Panter-5, Robinson-2
Team Totals: FG: 18-61 3PT:7-27 FT: 14-19

Two teams looking for their first district win of the season after half of the season has passed met Tuesday night in Smithville when DeKalb hosted the Cannon County Lions.

Although neither team shot very well from the field, DeKalb did hit 9 three point shots during the game and found themselves more at the free throw line where they hit 11-15 from the charity stripe while Cannon County only made it to the free throw line four times during the entire game. The Lions shot 16-48 from the field 6-24 from the 3-point arc in the loss to DeKalb 55-42.

The game stayed close in the first quarter 12-10 but just as it's been for most of the season DeKalb created an 8 point cushion during the second quarter and just built on that lead ending up with the 13 point lead.
Austin Duggin was the leading scorer with 13. Bo Bryson provided a spark in the third quarter as Cannon changed the lineup and put four fresh players in to start the quarter. Bryson finished with 6 as Cannon got as close as four points in the third quarter before DeKalb went on another run. Cannon's record falls to 6-15 0-7 (District 8-AA)

Box Score:
DeKalb County 55
Cannon County 42
Cannon Co.: Duggin-13, Martin-8, Bryson-6, Jakes-4, Miles-3, George-3,
Gannon-3, Knox-2
Team Totals FG: 16-48 3Pt:6-24 FT:2-4
DeKalb County-Evins-18, Johnson-14, Harpole-14, Poss-5, Parsley-2, Norris-2
Team Totals: FG:19-41 3Pt:9-23, FT 11-15