Lady Bulldogs Win Over Lady Jackets, Bulldogs Come Up Short

Last Tuesday night was a weird night for both the visiting Trousdale County Yellow Jackets and the Red Boiling Springs Bulldogs as both the girls game and boys contest kept the fans from both schools all over the officials.

When you add the fact that both sides of the gym were full, then the noise level was at its maximum on a night to forget.

A hard fought defensive effort by both teams resulted in a 6-3 Lady Bulldog lead after the first quarter and a 13-9 Lady Bulldog lead at halftime. Both teams had trouble throwing the ball in the ocean had there been one. Shooting percentages for the entire game were atrocious for both teams. The Lady Jackets made 7 shots out of 54 attempts with one of those being a 3 pointer and were 11 of 17 from the charity stripe. The Lady Bulldogs were 8 out of 31 but made 5 three pointers while making 9 of 15 free throws.

Late in the fourth quarter the Lady Bulldog held a very slim 18-16 lead. The Lady Bulldogs turned their offense over to Haley Davis who knocked down two nice three pointers. With the Lady Bulldogs holding a 1 point lead with just over a minute left in the game Kennedy Fleming hit a deep three pointer while Davis hit 2 big free throws to seal a 30-24 victory. Bulldog fans are excited for the future as both Fleming and Davis are freshman. The officials made 6 or 7 calls that could have gone either way and to their credit they hung and dealt with the noise as best they could.

The mark of a good team is to find a way to win even though you don’t play very well. The Lady Bulldogs made shots when they had to and they played their best game of the year on the defensive end. The Lady Jackets got their scoring punch from Makenzee Dixon with 8 points and Chole Donoho also with 8 points. Katelyn Ferguson had 6 points and Kaylynn Dalton had 2 points. A special note about three Lady Bulldogs who played a major factor in this win and they did it with their defense and rebounding and taking care of the basketball. We are talking about Maggie Isenberg, Shaylee Ellingson and Macy Raines. There were 18 rebounds between them plus 3 steals and 4 forced turnovers. Tamara Murphy played well also. Davis had 16 points, Fleming 7 points, Tuck 7 points, and Ellingson 1.

The boys game figured to be close and the Bulldogs were a little shorthanded playing without Matthew Murphy who was sick. The Bulldogs trailed 18-11 after the first quarter and 36-25 at halftime. The Bulldogs got first half scoring from Jordan Powell and Hunter Kirk along with Elijah Byfield. Mason Hix and Justin Bergdorff also scored for the Bulldogs. The Jackets were led in scoring by Keyvont Baines and Austin Ford and Braison Rainey.

The Bulldogs came alive in the third quarter behind Jordan Powell’s 10 points and Byfield had 9 points and the Jacket lead was trimmed down to 9 points and the Bulldogs were looking to have a good fourth quarter and win this game. 

Another incident involving officials came with 4 minutes left in the game and the Jacket lead was 4 points. The Bulldogs were in the double bonus and Bulldog Elijah Byfield was fouled but the officials gave him only one shot when it should have been two. Jordan Powell fouled out of this game with about 3 minutes left and his absence hurt the Bulldog inside game as Powell had 20 points when he was whistled for his 5th foul. The Bulldogs got 11 points in the final stanza from Hunter Kirk and Mason Hix. The Bulldogs scored 22 points in the 4th quarter but just run out of gas, losing 66-72.

Scoring totals for the Jackets was: Keyvont Baines 24 points, Briason Rainey and Austin Ford each had 13 points, Tristian McGuire and Trace McGuire had 15 points between them, Colton Gammons had 3 points, Jacob Woodard and Tarvaris each had 2 points.

Scoring totals for the Bulldogs was: Byfield 23 points, Powell 20 points, Hunter Kirk 13 points, and Mason Hix had 8 points.

Things don’t get much better for the Bulldogs as they head to Gordonsville for district games on Friday Feb 3rd. The Bulldogs will play Jackson County Tuesday night Feb 6th and that is senior night.