After seeing head coach David Junkins resign earlier in the week, the Marshall County Tigerettes pressed on under interim coach Jerrie Henry on Friday night when they defeated former District 12-AA foe East Hickman 45-36 in the Forrest Thanksgiving Tournament to pick up their first victory of the season.

Marshall County (1-4) built a 24-15 lead in the first half before opening up a 39-24 advantage early in the fourth quarter en route to claiming their sixth straight win over East Hickman (1-4).

Cold shooting

Hindered by a 1-of-8 effort from three-point range, the Tigerettes shot just 32 percent (16-of-50) from the field overall, but outrebounded the Lady Eagles 32-25 and held a 11-8 edge on the offensive glass while committing eight fewer turnovers (26-18) than East Hickman.

Sophomore shooting guard Kiya Morris carried MCHS early on and scored 15 of her game high 22 points in the first half to go along with four rebounds, four steals, and three assists. Allison Hargrove also tallied nine points, 11 rebounds, and three steals, while Zachuriya O'Neal notched eight points and four assists. Alexis Ford and Ti Lee chipped in three points apiece for the Tigerettes as well with Ford pulling down nine rebounds.

Marshall County, meanwhile, limited the Lady Eagles to just 13 field goals on 30 percent shooting, which included 1-of-9 effort from beyond the arc.

Kaitlyn Campbell paced East Hickman with 11 points, while Hannah Pendergrass and Haley Umstead each added eight points. Taylor Cline also tallied five points for Lady Eagles, and Holly Bridges and Tatum Gribbins both had two points.

Taking off

The Tigerettes got off to a good start and raced out to a 10-0 lead midway through the first quarter with the help of seven points from Morris.

After East Hickman notched the next five points to cut the deficit to 10-5, O'Neal knocked down a jumper in the closing seconds of the first quarter to give MCHS a 12-5 advantage before Morris hit a short bank shot early in the second period to make it 14-5.

The Lady Eagles then outscored Marshall County 8-5 over the next four and a half minutes to narrow the gap to 19-13, but the Tigerettes responded with a 5-0 spurt, highlighted by layups from Morris and O'Neal, to stretch their lead to 24-13 late in the second quarter.

Following two free throws from Cline, which trimmed the deficit to 24-15 at the break, East Hickman tallied the first five points of the third quarter to close the gap to 24-20.

Strong run

Marshall County, though, stemmed the Lady Eagles momentum by putting together a 15-4 run behind six points apiece from Morris and Hargrove to forge a 39-24 lead early in the fourth quarter.

After East Hickman whittled the deficit to 39-28 on two Cline free throws and a layup by Campbell, the Tigerettes tallied five of the next seven points thanks to a Morris foul shot and a pair of baskets from Hargrove and Ford to stretch their lead to 44-30 with 2:20 left before taking home the 45-36 victory.