Lady Rockets hold off Tigerettes, advance to D12-AA semifinals )

Anthony S. Puca Sports Editor
Posted 2/22/21

After losing their last two regular season games by a combined five points, the Forrest Lady Rockets bounced back with a nail-biting 39-33 win over the Marshall County Tigerettes in the first round of the District 12-AA Tournament Monday night at Chapel Hill...

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Lady Rockets hold off Tigerettes, advance to D12-AA semifinals )

Posted

After losing their last two regular season games by a combined five points, the Forrest Lady Rockets bounced back with a nail-biting 39-33 win over the Marshall County Tigerettes in the first round of the District 12-AA Tournament Monday night at Chapel Hill.

“Marshall County is such a well-coached and just tough team,” Forrest coach Corey Bishop said. “They are so elite in their defense that it becomes really hard to score the basketball.”

“Then when you take into account it's a play-in game to advance to the region, the importance of the game is monumental.”

It was the third win this season for Forrest in the intra-county rivalry over Lewisburg, who lose three celebrated seniors in Sydney Tidwell, Karlye Wiser, and Dionna Crutcher, who led all scorers in the contest with 15 points.

Wiser had two 3-pointers for six points and Israel Hurt added 12 points for the Tigerettes.

The senior Tigerettes’ trio combined for 73 wins with 23 coming in district play.

They played in two district tournament title games, three region title games with one championship, three straight sectional contests, and made one state tournament appearance in 2018-2019.

The Lady Rockets also clinched a berth in the Region 6-AA Tournament for the sixth season in a row and eight out of the last 10 years.

“We have a tough game in the semifinal of the district tournament and our focus will be on that game in order to advance and have the opportunity to host a region game on Friday night for the first time since 2017,” Bishop said. “Our team showed a lot of resiliency to battle through some adverse situations. I'm very proud of them.”

Forrest senior Laura Mealer led the Lady Rockets in the scoring column once again with 12 points, but it was Megan Mealer, who also had 12 points, doing the most damage with three 3-pointers, including a pair of backbreakers in the crucial fourth period.

“Megan Mealer has just continued to improve from the beginning of the season until now,” Bishop said. “She's starting to have a little more confidence in her game which will be huge for us as we continue on in the postseason.’

“She's worked extremely hard and is someone who is only going to get better.”

Ryann Lewis netted five points, Macyn Kirby and Kinslee Inlow both had one 3-pointer, while Addison Bunty scored two points.

Forrest took an early 8-2 lead behind 3-pointers by Kirby and Megan Mealer before the Tigerettes came back to within three at 10-7 on a Hurt bucket in the low post, but Inlow buried a long bomb from the corner and the first period ended with Chapel Hill holding a 13-7 lead.

“I thought from a toughness perspective, it was one of our better performances of the year,” Bishop said. “The game was physical, especially in the low post, where rebounding was key.”

The Lady Rockets led by eight points two times in the second period, but on both occasions Wiser drilled a trey and the Tigerettes eventually went to the locker room trailing by just six points at 21-15.

Forrest maintained the six-point lead after two Kirby free throws, but a Hurt bucket followed by two Crutcher free throws made it a 23-21 contest.

Lewis responded with a low post bucket for Forrest and the Tigerettes almost caught all the way up on a Crutcher bucket at the end of the third period and trailed by a single digit at 26-25.

Crutcher also scored to open the fourth quarter, giving Marshall County its first lead of the game before Laura Mealer scored on a drive to the dish and Megan Mealer followed with a long bomb to make it 34-30.

“When they took the lead, I feel like our team just took it upon themselves to play tougher and step up to the challenge of going to win a game,” Bishop said. “In the postseason, you have to go win games because the other team doesn't want to lose either.”

Crutcher made one of two from the free throw line before Forrest pulled away again on a Laura Mealer field goal and a tough bucket in the paint by Lewis to extend the Chapel Hill lead to 38-31 with a minute and a half to play in the game.

“Give them credit, they made a great run on offense and tightened up their defense at halftime to limit our looks in the third quarter,” Bishop said. “I thought once we settled down after that quarter we made some key adjustments going into a huge fourth quarter.”

After an offensive foul on MCHS, the Lady Rockets had several chances to widen the lead, but missed on several opportunities from the free throw line.

“Any multiple point lead versus Marshall County is crucial,” Bishop said. “They do such a great job of taking away your best plays and looks on offense, which is a staple of a David Steely team.”

“It's tough to play offense against them, but our team kept chipping away and won a close game in the end.”

The Tigerettes (5-15) could not take advantage on the offensive end and Forrest (9-12) finished the job to advance to the semifinals at Community (11-10) tonight with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m.

“This game will be a battle for sure,” Bishop said. “We are going to get a game plan figured out that we believe will give us the best opportunity for success and go play. We are very excited about the challenge.”

The regular season district champion Nolensville Lady Knights (15-6) entertain Giles County (7-11), who knocked off Murfreesboro Central Magnet School (10-9) in Murfreesboro Monday night 39-36.

Marshall County 7 8 10 8-33

Forrest 13 8 5 13-39

Marshall County (33): Dionna Crutcher 15, Israel Hurt 12, Karlye Wiser 6.

Three-Point Goals (4): Crutcher 2, Wiser 2.

Free Throws (7-for-11): Crutcher 7-for-8, Hurt 0-for-3.

Forrest (39): Laura Mealer 12, Megan Mealer 12, Macyn Kirby 5, Ryann Lewis 5, Kinslee Inlow 3, Addison Bunty 2.

Three-Point Goals (5): Megan Mealer 3, Kirby, Inlow.

Free Throws: (10-for-18): Laura Mealer 6-for-12, Kirby 2-for-2, Megan Mealer 1-for-2, Lewis 1-for-2.

Halftime Score: Forrest 21, Marshall County 15.