Peyton Newton picked up his first win as the head coach of the Cornersville Middle School Lady Bulldogs on Thursday night when CMS went on the road and defeated the New Prospect Lady Tigers 32-22.

The Lady Bulldogs appeared headed towards an easy victory early on and led by as many as 15 points in the second quarter prior to taking a 21-8 lead into the break. Cornersville then withstood a New Prospect rally attempt in the second half that saw the Lady Tigers cut the deficit to seven points midway through the fourth quarter before eventually taking home the 10-point win.

More to do

"It's good to get a win, but we've still got a lot of work to do," said Newton. "We played ok in the first half, but in the second half I think we played down to our opponents level instead of playing to the level that we want."

Both teams finished with 10 field goals, but the Lady Bulldogs outscored New Prospect 12-2 at the foul line. Cornersville also outrebounded the Lady Tigers 31-17 overall and held a 9-4 edge on the offensive glass.

Center Morgan Terry turned in a strong all-around performance and led the Lady Bulldogs with 12 points, 12 rebounds, three steals, and three blocked shots.

"When we get the ball inside, things are going to be good," said Newton. "Morgan knows that she's got to carry us and rule the paint. I think she learned a lot of lessons tonight about what she can and can't do."

Statistics

Emma Mitchell followed Terry with eight points and five rebounds, while Taylor Powers and Callie White tallied four points apiece with Powers recording four steals. Sara Beth Prosser and Melody Parker both chipped in two points for CMS as well.

Sara Brown paced the Lady Tigers with eight points and Cheyenne Johnson added six points. Abby Barnett also notched four points for New Prospect, while Rylynne Roysden and McKenna Romer each had two points with Roysden registering five blocked shots.

The Lady Bulldogs pounced on New Prospect early and raced out to a 9-2 lead with 1:55 left in the first quarter with the help of three Mitchell free throws and layups from Terry, Prosser, and Parker.

After Brown hit a jumper to trim the deficit to 9-4, Terry scored two straight layups to give Cornersville a 13-4 advantage early in the second period.

Major run

Brown knocked down another jumper to narrow the gap to 13-6, but the Lady Bulldogs put together an 8-0 run on the strength of four points from Terry, two White foul shots, and a jumper from Powers to forge a 21-6 advantage late in the second quarter.

The Lady Tigers cut the deficit to 21-8 at halftime on a Brown jumper before tallying four of the first five points of the third quarter to close the gap to 22-12.

Cornersville then tallied four straight points on two free throws from White and a Mitchell layup to push their lead to 26-12 late in the third period, but New Prospect responded with an 8-1 spurt to whittle the deficit to 27-20 midway through the fourth quarter.

CMS, though, kept the Lady Tigers at arm's length down the stretch and outscored New Prospect 5-2 over the final 3:05 of the contest with the aid of a Mitchell layup and three foul shots to close out their 32-22 triumph.