CASEY HINDMAN
Saturday, January 16, 2010 3:57 am

SMITHVILLE — Friday night, the Cannon County Lions and Lionettes traveled to DeKalb County for a much anticipated district match up.

The Lady Tigers were not intimidated by the Lionettes’ 15-0 record and 4th place state-ranking as they gave Cannon all they wanted in the first quarter. After the Lionettes pulled ahead 5-0, DeKalb outscored Cannon 12-0 over the next 4:20 taking a 12-5 lead at the 2:35 mark.

The Lionettes came back to life going on a 10-0 run to tie the score,15-15, with two Taylor King foul shots. Cannon continued their streak into the second quarter scoring another 9 unanswered points, taking a 24-15 lead at the 6:10 mark. Emily Sissom and King led the scoring surge with 10 and 8 points.

Defensively, the Lionettes forced 10 turnovers in the quarter, which led to easy baskets and a 45-26 half time lead.

The Lionettes continued to dominate play with eight players seeing action in the third quarter and extended their lead to 60-35. Coach Dodgen cleared the bench in the fourth and with freshmen Jordan Hollis’ last second 3-point shot, Cannon Co. ended the game with a 77-42 win, improving their record to 16-0, 4-0 district.

SCORING: Emily Sissom 24 points; Taylor King 14; Abby Jakes 8; Chelsey Payne 7; Shelby Jordan 6; Lindsey Reed 5; Erica Melton 5; Jordan Hollis 3; Ashley Campbell 2; Lauren Ruehlen 2; JoAnna Young 1.

In boys action, the game was as close as everyone had expected. DeKalb County opened the game with a 3-point basket which started an 8-2 run in the first 2:00 of the quarter. The Tigers continued their hot hand from the floor hitting their first six shots and took a 16-6 lead with 4:00 left in the quarter.

The Lions were up to the challenge ending the quarter with a 10-0 run tying the score at 16-16 with two Jared Nave foul shots.

Both teams continued to play well into the second quarter. The lead was swapped four times and the score tied three times. Both the Lions and Tigers shot 50% from the field. With the score tied at 26-26 with 3:00 remaining, the Lions pulled ahead only to see DeKalb come back and tie the score at the 2:50 mark.

Cannon again went ahead with 1:00 remaining, but a 3-point basket by the Tigers tied the score at 30-30 with 40-seconds left in the half. Cannon scored the final points on a Justin Davenport 3-point basket taking a 33-30 lead at the end of the second.

The Tigers opened up the second half red-hot from the field shooting 80%, and the Lions were not far behind shooting 60%, for the quarter. Despite DeKalb’s high percentage, the Lions were able to build a 5-point lead with 3:20 remaining in the quarter, 44-39, on a 3-point Ethan Womack basket.

DeKalb answered with a 6-0 run to take a 46-44 lead at the 1:55 mark. Cannon regained the lead on a T.J. Mitchell 3-point basket, 47-46, but the Tigers scored the last four points in the quarter to take a 50-47 lead. With both teams shooting over 50% in the fourth, the Lions had a difficult time cutting into the lead. Cannon fell behind by 5, 60-55, with 2:50 remaining in the game.

Jared Nave kept the Lions close scoring 6 points off offensive rebounds to cut the lead to 3, 60-57, at the 2:06 mark. The Lions cut it to 2 on a Colin Jones 3-point basket and tied the score at 62-62 on a Jones 2-point basket.

DeKalb went ahead 64-62 with 10-seconds remaining. Cannon called timeout, and on the in-bounds play, lost the ball out-of-bounds. They were forced to foul on the in-bounds play and with the two DeKalb free throws, the Lions found themselves on the losing end 66-62. The Lions record now stands at 11-5, 2-2 district.

SCORING: Jared Nave 16 points and 8 rebounds; Justin Davenport 12; Colin Jones 10; Cody Ruehlen 8; Andrew Woodin 6; T.J. Mitchell 5; Ethan Womack 3; Brian Cripps 2.

Cannon County takes on Upperman at home tonight.