The Nolensville Lady Knights extended their winning streak to nine games in a row over Marshall County with a 68-33 blowout win over the defending region champion Tigerettes in the Region 6-AA Tournament championship game Wednesday night at Community.

If it was baseball, it would have been a near perfect game for Nolensville.

“I’m just going to give them all the credit, they played really well tonight and are one of the best teams in Tennessee, I promise you they are,” MCHS head coach David Steely said. “They are one of the best two, three, or four teams in 2A, maybe one of the best teams in 3A, if they were 3A.”

The Lady Knights had four players in double figures in the scoring column with Caymin Ladd leading the way with 20 points, Zoe Pillar netted 14, region tournament MVP Grace Baird had 13, and Sydney Mickulin added 10.

Ladd had four 3-pointers, Baird nailed three treys, and Mickulin drained a pair.

Nolensville also went a perfect 11-for-11 from the free throw line with Pillar and Ladd going 4-for-4, Leftwich went 2-for-2, and Chloe Earls made 1-of-1 from the charity stripe.

Marshall County did not attempt a free throw in the contest.

“I thought we had a chance coming in, things didn’t go our way, we did respond a little bit in the second quarter and I liked that,” Steely said. “We are going to put this one behind us, dig down deep in to our character and respond Saturday night with our best effort of the year.”

Nolensville also won the region title two years and hosts the loser of tonight’s Westmoreland at Maplewood Region 5-AA title game on Saturday in a state sectional contest.

The Tigerettes travel to winner’s home gymnasium on Saturday at 7 p.m.

“We have been in this situation before and won and we just discussed that in the dressing room,” Steely said. “That is going to be our focus is all Saturday and trying to give it our best opportunity.”

“Those teams are playing tomorrow night and we will be there to watch and then have a plan ready to go.”

The last time Marshall County and Nolensville met in the District 12-AA title game, the Lady Knights smothered them with the half-court trap on defense and they stayed with the same scheme on Wednesday with Lewisburg having no answer.

The Tigerettes had six first quarter turnovers off the trap and to make matters worse, Nolensville made everything they threw up at the hoop.

Nolensville never trailed in the contest, essentially putting the game away in the first quarter as Baird had a pair of 3-pointers while Pillar scored six points in the low post, Ladd banged home the first of her four 3-pointers in the game, Parker Leftwich had one of her patented steal and scores, and Mickulin had a field goal as the Lady Knights scored the first 17 points of the game.

Marshall County did not score until Dionna Crutcher stole the ball and scored with 27.2 seconds remaining in the first period.

“Basically from the first quarter on it was just all about what kind of person we are and what kind character we are going to show and we wanted to respond better,” Steely said.

The Tigerettes buckled their chinstraps in the second period on defense, holding Nolensville to six points while Sydney Tidwell, Kelsey Keiler, and Crutcher all nailed 3-pointers, but the Tigerettes still trailed 25-13 at halftime.

If the first quarter was really bad, the third period was worse for Marshall County as the Lady Knights came out of the locker room on fire once again, putting together a backbreaking 12-3 run to make it 37-16 behind 10 Ladd points, including two more long range missiles.

Karlye Wiser made a 3-pointer for MCHS with 2:56 remaining in the stanza to stop the run, but Nolensville doubled up with a 15-9 run from there to take a commanding 52-25 lead to the fourth quarter.

Nolensville scored 16 points in the final period and the Tigerettes managed just eight with the 35-point mercy rule going in to effect late in the contest.

Kelsey Keiler led the Tigerettes in the scoring column with four 3-pointers for 12 points and Hannah Davis was also in double figures with 10.

Wiser ended up with five points and Tidwell and Janya Young added three points apiece.

Marshall County 2 11 12 8-33

Nolensville 19 6 27 16-68

Marshall County (33): Kelsey Keiler 12, Hannah Davis 10, Karlye Wiser 5, Sydney Tidwell 3, Janya Young 3.

Three-Point Goals (9): Keiler 4, Crutcher 2, Tidwell, Wiser, Young.

Free Throws (0).

Nolensville (68): Caymin Ladd 20, Zoe Pillar 14, Grace Baird 13, Sydney Mickulin 10, Parker Leftwich 4, Chloe Earls 3, Izzy Phillips 2, Addie Keen 2.

Three-Point Goals (9): Ladd 4, Baird 3, Mickulin 2.

Free Throws (11-for-11): Pillar 4-for-4, Ladd 4-for-4, Leftwich 2-for-2, Earls 1-for-1.

Halftime Score: Nolensville 25, Marshall County 13.

All-Region 6-AA Tournament Team

Karlye Wiser (Marshall County)

Kelsey Keiler (Marshall County)

Caymin Ladd (Nolensville)

Zoe Pillar (Nolensville)

Grace Baird (Nolensville-MVP)

Tori Hale (Stewart County)

Brianna Burgess (Creek Wood)