The Marshall County Tigerettes saw a slight glimmer of hope before being mauled 65-29 at Columbia Central Tuesday night.

The Tigerettes played inspired to begin the contest, leading 9-8 after the first quarter.

Christy Pettigrew scored with 6:06 remaining in the second period to give MCHS a 15-14 lead before the floodgates opened on the Tigerettes.

Lady Lions explode

A Cokie Young three-bomb lit the fuse for the Lady Lions, sparking Columbia Central to a 15-0 run to end the first half with a 29-15 lead.

Allison Hargrove drilled a three-pointer to begin the third period before Keiana Gilbert went to work in the low post for Columbia Central, scoring 10 points in the eight-minute span.

Kenesha McFall scored for the Tigerettes midway through the quarter to break a 9-0 Lady Lion run and Hargrove would hit another three-pointer late to snap an 11-0 Columbia Central burst.

Rough half

By the time the third period was over Central had outscored the Tigerettes 25-8 to take a 54-23 lead, entering the final eight minutes of action.

Early in the fourth quarter, the mercy rule was instituted as the Tigerettes could not manage but six points and fell by the 36-point margin.

With the loss, MCHs has now dropped eight straight to the Lady Lions with the last win coming on Nov. 23, 2009 in Lewisburg.

The Tigerettes (2-8), who will not play again until Jan. 3 at Lincoln County, have not won in Columbia since Dec. 19, 2003.

Scoring

Hargrove led the Tigerettes in the scoring column with 10 points, while Zachuriya O'Neal scored eight, Pettigrew finished with four points, Kiya Morris added three, and Mecia Reed and McFall added a deuce apiece.

Columbia Central had nine players tally in the scorebook with Gilbert leading the way, scoring 26 points and hauling down 12 rebounds in the contest.

Makayla Timmons was also in double figures with 13 points for the Lady Lions, while Young scored nine, Raquel Lockridge had five points and nine rebounds, Tamijah Kinzer scored four, Caroline Chance and Oma Ferguson netted a deuce apiece, and Mallory Loveless and Kaliyah Conway both ended up with a single marker.