Lady Bulldogs Split Games at Season’s End
By: Wally Etheridge
Last Tuesday night was senior night for the Lady Bulldogs and they made the night very special by beating 8th district rival Trousdale County 46-44 in overtime to keep the Lady Bulldogs in second place in district 8A.
This was a game the Lady Bulldogs won, but it was very ugly.
Kelsey Jenkins made only one basket all game, but her 3-pointer from just beyond the top of the key came with 4.2 seconds left on the clock and tied the game at 41-all. A desperate shot from 35 feet at the buzzer was no good for the Lady Jackets.
Red Boiling Springs trailed 97 percent of this game and played one of their worst games of the year. They committed turnover after turnover, and made only 13 out of 24 attempts from the charity stripe and had 18 turnovers for the game. Many of those mistakes were unenforced. These Lady Bulldogs have something called incredible resiliency, and they waited until the last 4 seconds of this game to make their comeback complete. The Lady Jackets would have no chance in the OT, and you could see it in their faces.
The game started with the Lady Bulldogs in a 2-3 zone defense, and after the Lady Jackets jumped out to a 9-2 lead on wide open shots, Lady Bulldogs coach Larry White had seen enough of the zone defense and called time out. When the RBS girls came back out on the floor they were back in their man-to-man defense and the Lady Bulldogs trailed only 23-22 at halftime. The Burgener sisters had 14 of those points to lead the Lady Bulldogs in the first half.
The Lady Bulldogs were making the same mistakes they made in the first half, and by now the RBS fans were looking at each other wondering what in the world was going on. There is bad news and good news in this quarter for the Lady Bulldogs. The bad was the RBS girls scored only 4 points in the quarter. The good news was the Lady Jackets managed only 7 points, and a 30-26 lead belonged to the Lady Jackets starting the fourth quarter. Katie Hix saved the game for the Lady Bulldogs in the quarter by scoring 6 points and Morgan Burgener had 3 points. That accounted for all the points until Kelsey nailed her 3-point shot to tie this game. Trousdale County fans sat in disbelief as did the Lady Bulldogs fans. The Lady Bulldogs scored 5 points in the OT and they all came from the charity stripe, while the Lady Jackets made one 2-point shot and 1 free-throw. If you are a Lady Bulldog fan you might need to bring your heart medicine Friday night in Gordonsville.
Scoring for RBS: Morgener – 13 points, Katie Hix – 11 points, Kalisha Lynch – 11 points, Mayson Burgener – 6 points, Kristen Davis – 2 points, Kelsey Jenkins – 3 points.
Scoring for the Lady Jackets: Hannah Gregory – 23 points, Bailey – 8 points, Shelby Gregory – 7 points, Paige Carr – 4 points, Natalie Story – 2 points.
The Red Boiling Springs Lady Bulldogs made the short trip down to Gordonsville and they had only one mission on their mind and no matter what it took to get the job done they were coming back home with a victory. The Lady Bulldogs played one of their best games of the season but fell to the Tigerettes in overtime 59-49. This being the last game of the regular season the Lady Bulldogs must now get ready for the district tournament, which starts tonight at the MCHS gym.
In the early going of this game the Lady Bulldogs played really good and led after the first quarter 10-7. This is when the Lady Tigerettes hit some unbelievable shots and scored 19 points in the quarter while holding the Lady Bulldogs to 9 points and the Tigerettes took a lead of 26-19 to the dressing room at the half.
The Lady Bulldogs could not get much done in the third quarter as they still trailed 42-32 going into the fourth quarter. The Fourth quarter of this game is when the lady Bulldogs started smoking behind the play of senior Morgan Burgener and the duo of Katie Hix and Kalish Lynch. The Lady Bulldogs would out score Gordonsville in the fourth quarter 15-5 and the Bulldogs had come all the way back to send this game into overtime at 47 all.
With the Lady Bulldogs spirit sky high but knowing tired legs would play a vital part of this overtime the Lady Bulldogs would go down to defeat to the Tigerettes 59-54. Our hats are off to both of these teams but our hometown kids did themselves proud. They came to play hard and to win this game and almost did.
Now the Lady Bulldogs must turn their action to the district tournament, which starts tonight in the MCHS gym. The Lady Bulldogs need just one win to put themselves in the district finals. They have the talent so let's roll with the dogs this week. Scoring for the Lady Bulldogs. Morgan Burgener-27 points-Kalisha Lynch-10 points-Katie Hix-7 points and Mayson Burgener and Kelsey Jenkins had 5 points each.
