Coming into Friday night’s Basketball Homecoming matchup with Murfreesboro Central Magnet School (MCM), the MCHS Tigerettes were on the short end of six close losses this season with three of them coming by two points, one by four points, and two by five points.

This time, the Tigerettes pulled it out, but had to go to overtime to do it as Israel Hurt scored four of her game-high 18 points in the extra stanza to lift MCHS to a 46-44 win.

“It’s awesome to get the ‘W’,” MCHS coach David Steely said. “We have been in a lot of close games, but we are starting to play better and starting to play more like a team and just fighting harder.”

“We are not the biggest and most athletic group, so we truly have to fight for every possession and we did a good job of that tonight.”

Dionna Crutcher also had 18 points for the Tigerettes and came up with several nice passes in to the low post to Hurt.

“Dionna is really, really playing well right now with her decision making, she is making some unbelievable passes and drop-offs to Israel,” Steely said. “But she also scored 18 tonight, she played really well tonight, she is not forcing, she is just taking what they give her and playing basketball.”

Karlye Wiser had only four points in the game with her lone 3-pointer giving the Tigerettes a fourth quarter lead and her one free throw at the end sealed the deal.

Homecoming Queen Sydney Tidwell also had four points with one 3-pointer and along with Crutcher, Tidwell fed the low post well.

Kayla Keiler continued her fine sophomore season and added two points, both coming on a pair of clutch fourth quarter free throws.

Tidwell’s 3-pointer midway through the low scoring first quarter gave the Tigerettes a 7-4 lead, but the Lady Tigers managed to cut the lead to one point on two occasions before a Kaitlin Polly 3-pointer tied the game at 12-12 at the end of the stanza.

MCM came up with a 7-4 mini-run behind five points from Olivia Hart to take a 19-16 lead before a Hurt basket in the low post followed moments later by a Crutcher 3-pointer put Lewisburg back in front 21-19.

Hart scored down low to tie the game and Kathryn Hays drained a 3-pointer at the end of the first half to give MCM a 24-21 halftime lead.

The Lady Tigers increased their lead to 27-23 before Crutcher drove to the hoop for two points and after an MCM missed shot, Crutcher fed Hurt for an open layup, tying the game at 27.

A five-second call on MCM gave the ball back to MCHS and Tidwell put the Tigerettes in front with one free throw with 4:44 remaining in the third period.

Addison Melton drilled a 3-pointer for the Lady Tigers and then Hart came up with a steal and score to make it a four-point game and after an MCHS turnover, Hays knocked in a short jumper to increase the lead to six points at 34-28.

Hurt and Crutcher scored to cut the lead to two points and the two squads traded baskets at the end of the period and went to the fourth quarter with the Tigerettes trailing 36-34.

Almost two minutes went by before Melson came up with a field goal and Crutcher answered with a drive to the hoop before Wiser drilled the go-ahead trey to give MCHS a 39-38 lead with 4:28 left in the contest.

Both squads went cold from the field again and there was no scoring until Keiler stepped to the line and banged home a pair of charity shots with 1:58 remaining in the game, giving the Tigerettes a 41-38 lead.

Hays was fouled shooting a 3-pointer at the other end and calmly stepped to the free throw line where she drilled all three attempts, tying the game at 41 with just over a minute to go.

After misses by both teams, the game went to overtime at the Dottie Kelso Memorial Gymnasium in Lewisburg.

Polly rained home a 3-pointer to start extra time, but Hurt answered with a low post bucket at the other end.

“Israel has had 17 and 18 the last two games and she is just getting more confidence, sometimes we forget that this is her first year to really be out there,” Steely said. “

Moments later, a tie-up on the floor gave the ball back to MCHS and Hurt muscled home another low post score to give the Tigerettes a 45-44 lead.

The Lady Tigers turned the ball over, but MCHS gave it right back and when MCM tried to call timeout, they were whistled for a technical foul because they didn’t have any left.

“It was a great team effort, we did some things defensively very well,” Steely said. “Karlye had great help defense, Sydney is our stopper right now and is just doing an awesome job and you can see Kayla getting better and better.”

Wiser stepped to the free throw line with 8.2 seconds left and made one of two to ice the District 12-AA contest.

The Tigerettes (4-9, 2-2) travelled to first place Nolensville (10-5, 3-1) on Tuesday and return home on Friday versus Community (7-8, 2-2).

“Every game is a district game from here on out, right now we have won both home games, so we are defending our home court,” Steely said. “We have had chances on the road, Forrest beat us at the buzzer the other night and we led against Community most of the game.”

“So, we have had chances to win every game, we are 2-2 in the district and if we keep playing that way we can we can find ways to win because our defense is good enough to do it.”

MCM 12 12 12 5 3-44

MCHS 12 9 13 7 5-46

MCM (44): Olivia Hart 15, Addison Melton 10, Kathryn Hays 8, Kaitlin Polly 8, Aniyah Smith 3.

Three-Point Goals (6): Melton 2, Polly 2, Hays, Smith.

Free Throws (4-for-4): Hays 3-for-3, Hart 1-for-1.

MCHS (46): Israel Hurt 18, Dionna Crutcher 18, Karlye Wiser 4, Sydney Tidwell 4, Kayla Keiler 2.

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

Free Throws (6-for-11): Hurt 2-for-3, Keiler 2-for-2, Tidwell 1-for-4, Wiser 1-for-2.

Halftime Score: Murfreesboro Central Magnet 24, Marshall County 21.