The Forrest Lady Rockets captured their third win in a row Friday night at Chapel Hill as they easily handled Murfreesboro Central Magnet School (MCM) 67-31.

“They were focused on a little bit of payback from the last time we played them (49-40L),” Forrest coach Jeremy Jean said. “Last time over there we shot the ball really bad.”

Junior standout Carissa Curtis continued her stellar campaign with a game-high 25 points and five 3-pointers, plus a perfect 4-for-4 effort from the free throw line.

“Carissa is going to be the constant,” Jean said. “She is going to score, she is shooting the ball really well right now and needs to keep that up.”

“Carissa is scoring a lot of points on not many shots and when that happens they all start making them and it becomes one big free for all.”

Forrest had nine other players tallying points with Laura Mealer also in double figures with 16 points, canning two treys, and going 2-for-2 from the charity stripe.

As a team, the Lady Rockets went a solid 12-for-13 from the free throw line while MCM faltered, going 14-for-27.

Jaide Langley had nine points (3-pointer), Alex Davenport scored four, Megan Mealer (3-pointer) and Shea Lewis had three points each, Ally Blanton, Carli Warner, and Addison Bunty had two points apiece, and Macyn Kirby had one point to round out the Forrest scoring.

Kathryn Hayes and Addison Melton led the Lady Tigers in the scoring column with eight points apiece, Kaitlin Polly had six, Aniyah Smith five, and Noella Obi and Helen Smith had two points apiece.

Curtis opened up the game with one of her patented steal and scores and the game was really tight with the Lady Tigers leading 7-6 after back-to-back Melton buckets.

After that it was all Lady Rockets, who reeled off 11 points in a row, beginning with Mealer scoring on a pretty backdoor play and ending on a Davenport rebound and put-back.

Noella Obi canned one free throw to end the Forrest run before Mealer drilled a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it a 20-8 contest.

Forrest stayed on fire in the second period, coming up with another big run as they outscored the Lady Tigers 11-2 and led 31-10 on a Curtis long bomb with 2:24 remaining in the second period.

MCM managed to stay in the game via a 9-4 mini-run, capped off by a Kathryn Hayes 3-pointer to make it 35-19 at the end the first half.

Forrest continued to increase the lead and a Langley 3-pointer, followed by a Curtis field goal doubled up the score at 44-22 just two minutes into the second half.

Polly made two free throws for the Lady Tigers before Forrest delivered the knockout punch with Curtis draining three long bombs and Langley adding a jumper to put the game away at 55-25 with just over two minutes to play in the third period.

Forrest took a 59-29 lead to the fourth quarter and scored eight more points while the Lady Tigers scored just two for the 67-31 final.

The District 12-AA victory puts the Lady Rockets back in the race and Forrest could finish as high as second place if they win out the remaining four district games of the season.

“If we can take care of business we can get to second.” Jean said. “I told the girls last week, second thru sixth doesn’t matter except second will get the bye.”

“We just want to start playing our best basketball right now and keep getting better and tonight was a step in that direction.”

MCM 8 11 10 2-31

Forrest 20 15 24 8-67

Murfreesboro Central Magnet School (31): Kathryn Hayes 8, Addison Melton 8, Kaitlin Polly 6, Aniyah Smith 5, Noella Obi 2, Helen Smith 2.

Three-Point Goals (3): Hayes 2, Smith.

Free Throws (14-for-27): Polly 4-for-6, Melton 4-for-4, Obi 2-for-5, Aniyah Smith 2-for-4, Helen Smith 2-for-2, Emma Grace Smith 0-for-4, Reece Carlisle 0-for-2.

Forrest (67): Carissa Curtis 25, Laura Mealer 16, Jaide Langley 9, Alex Davenport 4, Megan Mealer 3, Shea Lewis 3, Ally Blanton 2, Carli Warner 2, Addison Bunty 2, Macyn Kirby 1.

Three-Point Goals (9): Curtis 5, Laura Mealer 2, Langley, Megan Mealer.

Free Throws (12-for-13): Curtis 4-for-4, Shea Lewis 3-for-4, Laura Mealer 2-for-2, Bunty 2-for-2, Kirby 1-for-1.

Halftime Score: Forrest 35, MCM 19.