The Cornersville Middle School Lady Bulldogs (2-1) advanced to the semifinals of the Cornersville Athletic Booster Club tournament by defeating the Minor Hill Lady Wildcats 23-16 in the first round on Tuesday night.

With coach Peyton Newton substituting freely throughout the contest, CMS built a 10-4 lead in the first half before opening up a 15-point advantage midway through the fourth quarter en route to claiming their second win of the season.

Orders followed

"We were trying to play a lot of people tonight and figure out where they fit. At halftime I told my starters that I wanted to get a big lead so I could play the younger girls," said Newton.

The Lady Bulldogs finished the game with an 8-7 advantage in field goals and outscored Minor Hill 7-2 at the foul line. Cornersville also outrebounded the Lady Wildcats 27-20, held a 13-8 edge on the offensive glass, and forced 33 Minor Hill turnovers, which included 22 steals.

Center Morgan Terry narrowly missed recording her second straight double-double and led the Lady Bulldogs with nine points, nine rebounds, five steals, and five blocked shots. Emma Mitchell also tallied six points, five rebounds, and four steals, while Taylor Powers notched three points and seven steals. Callie White and Melody Parker chipped in two points apiece for CMS as well, and KiAnna Holder had one point.

Lexi Barnickle and Ashlynn Kimbrough paced the Lady Wildcats (0-1) with four points each, while Taylor Teegarden, Hannah McComiskey, McKenna Birdsong, and Kaitlyn McGlocklin had two points apiece.

Near-shutout

Cornersville pitched a shutout for much of the first half, as Mitchell scored all six points in the first quarter on two free throws and a pair of layups to stake CMS to a 6-0 lead before the Lady Bulldogs opened up a 10-0 advantage midway through the second period thanks to a Powers layup and a foul line jumper by Terry.

Minor Hill tallied the last four points of the second quarter to trim the deficit to 10-4 at the break before Terry converted a three-point play at the start of the third period to give Cornersville a 13-4 advantage.

After the Lady Wildcats narrowed the gap to 13-8 midway through the second quarter on jumpers by McGlocklin and McComiskey, the Lady Bulldogs put together a 10-0 run behind four points from Terry and two points apiece from White and Parker to forge a 23-8 advantage with 2:58 left in the fourth period.

Minor Hill then outscored CMS' reserves 8-0 the rest of the way for the 23-16 final.