The regular season is winding down in District 12-AA and the Murfreesboro Central Magnet Lady Tigers travelled to Lewisburg to face the Marshall County Tigerettes Tuesday night at the Dottie Kelso Memorial Gymnasium.

The Tigerettes defeated the Lady Tigers on January 24 and MCHS completed the sweep with a 40-28 victory.

The Tigerettes used accurate 3-point shooting, converting nine long bomb, plus two the old-fashion way on a field goal and a free throw.

Dionna Crutcher and Karlye Wiser had four 3-pointers apiece for the Tigerettes.

Crutcher started the game for MCHS with a 3-pointer and the two-three zone defense from the Tigerettes made the Lady Tigers work to get shots.

Sydney Tidwell knocked down a 3-pointer and Kelsey Keiler added a basket for MCHS as they too had to shoot over a 2-3 zone defense employed by Murfreesboro Central Magnet.

When the horn sounded to end the first quarter, MCHS led 9-3.

The second quarter saw Central Magnet come up with an eight-point run, employing the outside shooting touch as Kathryn Hayes and Carly Phillips drained 3-pointers to catch up with the Tigerettes at 11-11 at the 3:20 mark of the period.

The defense of the Lady Tigers was giving the Tigerettes fits, but steady play by Crutcher, who scored five points in the quarter, kept MCHS in the lead.

Oliva Hart tied it at 13-13, but Crutcher drained a 3-pointer with 20.3 seconds left in the first half to put the Tigerettes in the lead 16-13.

The third quarter was where the Tigerettes began to stretch their lead as Wiser found the range bombing in three 3-pointers and Keiler and Hannah Davis doing it in the traditional way with baskets and free throws to give MCHS a 31-22 lead at the end of the stanza.

“We’ve got two or three girls that can shoot the three-pointer and we can make people nervous when they go to a zone defense,” MCHS coach David Steely said.

The Tigerettes, again using long bombs to stretch their lead, saw Wiser swish another and Crutcher adding two more.

The Tigerettes kept playing good defense to keep the Lady Tigers at arm’s length and came away with a 40-28 victory.

“We shot the ball well in the second half making nine 3’s,” Steely said.

The Tigerettes with a second-place finish in the district assured, travel to Chapel Hill on Thursday night in a makeup of a weather postponed game with the Lady Rockets, before finishing the regular season at Nolensville on Friday night.

“We’re in second place and it was a win tonight, so we will look to go to Chapel Hill to take care of business, it will be a packed house for that game,” Steely said.

Nolensville and Marshall County get a first round District 12-AA Tournament bye while the three, four, and five seeds are yet to be determined. The three and four seeds host the first round on Monday night before the remainder of the tournament moves to Community.

MCM 3 10 9 6-28

MCHS 9 7 15 9-40

Murfreesboro Central Magnet School (28): Carly Phillips 11, Oliva Hart 9, Reese Carlisle 3, Kathryn Hays 3, Karen Hart 2.

Three-Point Goals (4): Phillips 3, Hays.

Free Throws (6-for-9): Hart 1-for-2, Carlisle 3-for-4, Phillips 2-for-3.

MCHS (40): Dionna Crutcher 15, Karlye Wiser 12, Hannah Davis 5, Kelsey Keiler 5, Sydney Tidwell 3

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

Free Throws (3-4): Crutcher 1-for-2, Keiler 1-for-1, Davis 1-for-1

Halftime Score: MCHS 16, MCM 13.

District 12-AA Standings

Nolensville 20-4, 9-0

MCHS 16-5, 6-2

Giles County 11-12, 4-5

Forrest 17-8, 3-5

Community 11-16, 3-6

MCM 9-12, 1-8