A late rally ultimately fell short for the Shelbyville Central Golden Eaglettes as they lost 47-38 to the Tullahoma Wildcats at home on Thursday night in the “The Battle of Highway 41-A.”
Only four Eaglettes found the scoresheet as Shelbyville Central struggled offensively from the jump, scoring only five points as a team in the first quarter.
Tullahoma came out of the gates super aggressively, intent on doubling star guard Paige Blackburn every time she touched the ball, and it worked. Tullahoma ended the first quarter up 12-5 and kept up their tenacious attack in the second quarter as well.
After Blackburn picked up her second personal foul with 4:43 left in the first half and her team trailing 15-6, the two sides slowly started to trade baskets. Then, with the first half clock quickly winding down, Tullahoma’s Lily Melton hit a deep three at the buzzer to give the Wildcats a 26-13 halftime lead.
The Eaglettes started to find their offensive groove a little more in the second half, but Tullahoma did just enough to leave Shelbyville with their second win in two tries over their fierce rival.
Neither team started the third quarter that well offensively with each side scoring only four points through the first six minutes of the second half. However, Blackburn showed some signs of life as the quarter came to an end, scoring seven points in the final four minutes to close the lead to 35-23 going into the fourth quarter.
Unfortunately for the Eaglettes, they would be unable to get it to single digits until there was less than 90 seconds to go. Shelbyville Central falls to 10-4 on the season overall.
Blackburn finished with 15 points, and backcourt mate Lanaya Young had numerous strong drives to the basket in a team-high 17-point outing. Despite these efforts, their teammates only had six points combined for the entire night. It was a better overall effort than Shelbyville’s 41-25 loss in the first game between these two programs, but in the end the lack of scoring outside of Young and Blackburn doomed the Eaglettes.
Tullahoma had only two players in double figures, led by McLayne Bobo’s 17 points and Aubrey North’s 11, but the Wildcats got just enough contributions from the rest of their team to secure the season sweep.
Shelbyville Central has a quick turnaround as they travel to Riverdale on Friday for the second night of a rare back-to-back. That game will be broadcast live on WLIJ 98.7 and AM 1580 starting at 5:45 p.m.
Tullahoma, now 5-7 on the season, will host a pesky Moore County team on Saturday night.
