The Cornersville Middle School Lady Bulldogs (12-4) ended the 2013 campaign in fitting fashion, as they pulled out a thrilling 36-34 overtime victory against the Fayetteville Lady Tigers at home in their season finale.

Fayetteville (10-8) had CMS on the ropes after taking a 31-28 lead in the waning moments of the fourth quarter, but the Lady Bulldogs scored three points in the final 20 seconds of regulation thanks to a free throw and a layup by center Morgan Terry to send the game into overtime tied at 31-31.

Cornersville then outscored the Lady Tigers 5-3 in the extra session to claim their sixth straight win.

Perfect ending

"I either wanted a big win so I could get everyone some playing time or a dramatic win so it would be something they would remember forever. It ended up working out perfectly," said CMS coach Peyton Newton. "We've had 18 weeks of practice and 16 games and these girls couldn't have worked any hard than they did. This is a special group."

Aided by a 10-of-21 shooting performance in the second half, the Lady Bulldogs shot 42 percent (14-of-33) from the field overall despite missing all four three-point attempts. Cornersville did commit 11 more turnovers (29-18) than Fayetteville but offset that by outrebounding the Lady Tigers 30-15.

Terry tied her career high scoring mark by pouring in 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds and five assists. Hannah Singleton also tallied six points for the Lady Bulldogs, while Taylor Powers and Sara Beth Prosser added five and four points respectively.

The Lady Tigers, conversely, shot just 29 percent from the floor, which included a 4-of-17 effort from beyond the arc. D.J. Horton paced Fayetteville with 18 points, while Aly Hargrave notched 12 points.

Lead changes

After CMS grabbed an early 3-0 lead on a three-point play by Powers, the Lady Tigers closed the first quarter with a 9-2 spurt to pull ahead 9-5.

The Lady Bulldogs rattled off five straight points with the help of a Powers free throw and a pair of baskets from Terry and Prosser to seize a 10-9 lead midway through the second period, but Fayetteville tallied the final five points of the half to take a 14-10 advantage into the break.

Cornersville began to heat up offensively in the third quarter and put together a 10-4 run behind four points apiece from Terry and Singleton to claim a 20-18 lead at the end of the stanza.

The Lady Tigers outscored CMS 13-8 over the next 5:31 to grab a 31-28 advantage before Terry hit one-of-two free throws with :20 left to whittle the deficit to 31-29.

Thrilling finale

After forcing a Fayetteville turnover, the Lady Bulldogs ran a perfectly executed inbounds play, as Powers threw a nice pass from the left sideline to Terry, who caught the ball underneath the basket and scored on a layup to tie the game at 31-31 with :11 remaining in regulation.

Horton was fouled on the Lady Tigers' next possession, but missed the front end of a one-and-one before Cornersville allowed the remaining time to run off after Prosser grabbed the rebound.

In the extra session, Singleton knocked down a jumper to give the Lady Bulldogs a 33-31 lead but Horton drained a trey to put Fayetteville up 34-33.

Terry then scored on a layup to stake CMS to a 35-34 advantage with :44 left before Horton was called for traveling on the Lady Tigers' next possession.

After Terry hit one-of-two free throws to stretch Cornersville's lead to 36-34 with 10.7 seconds left, Horton missed an off balance three-pointer on Fayetteville's final possession.