Lady Bulldogs surge past Fayetteville

On Friday, the Cornersville Lady Bulldogs (10-3) snapped a two-game losing streak when they defeated the Fayetteville Lady Tigers 62-49 at the Richland Christmas Classic.

Although Cornersville had beaten Fayetteville twice already this season, the Lady Tigers (1-11) gave CHS fits early on in Friday's contest and held a 28-20 lead at halftime.

The Lady Bulldogs, however, straightened things out after the break and outscored Fayetteville 42-21 over the final two periods to take home the 13-point win.

Cornersville shot just 25 percent (11-of-44) through the first three quarters of play before hitting all seven field goal attempts in the fourth period to finish 18-of-51 from the floor overall, highlighted by a 6-of-16 effort from three-point range.

The Lady Bulldogs also outrebounded the Lady Tigers 37-33 and knocked down 20-of-29 free throws, while Fayetteville attempted only 13 foul shots, hitting nine.

"I thought we actually executed well offensively in the first half, but we missed a bunch of easy shots," said CHS coach Micah Landers. "We played really well in the fourth quarter. We used a bigger lineup and it helped. The girls did a good job of seeing each other on the court and finding the open man."

Senior forward Kaitlyn Rogers jumpstarted Cornersville's second half comeback by scoring 13 of her team high 19 points in the third period to go along with five steals. Brittany Umbles and Brooke Holt followed Rogers with 18 and 13 points respectively with Umbles grabbing 14 rebounds. Ashley Umbles tallied eight points, nine rebounds, and four assists for the Lady Bulldogs as well, while Kaleigh Welch added four points, seven rebounds, and four steals.

Despite hitting 7-of-12 field goal attempts in the first quarter, the Lady Tigers shot just 30 percent (17-of-57) from the floor, which included a 6-of-26 performance from beyond the arc.

Tamia Baker buried six treys and paced Fayetteville with 20 points, while Trevah Thompson notched 12 points.

Cornersville jumped out to an early 6-2 lead thanks to a layup by Brittany Umbles, a Holt three, and a free throw from Rogers but Fayetteville went on a 15-2 run to grab a 17-8 advantage late in the first quarter.

The Lady Bulldogs tallied five straight points on a Brittany Umbles foul shot and a pair of baskets from Holt and Rogers to narrow the gap to 17-13 early in the second period before the Lady Tigers outscored CHS 8-2 over the next three and a half minutes to push their lead to 25-15.

After Cornersville trimmed the deficit to 28-20 at halftime with the help of a Holt trey and two free throws, Trevah Thompson scored on a layup at the start of the third quarter to make it 30-20.

The Lady Bulldogs quickly erased the deficit by putting together an 11-1 run on the strength of seven points from Rogers to knot the score at 31-31 midway through the third period.

Baker and Trevah Thompson each hit two free throws to put Fayetteville back up 35-31, but Rogers sandwiched a couple of threes around a Paeshence Thompson offensive put back to retie the game at 37-37 late in the third quarter.

After Ashley Umbles scored on an offensive put back to give Cornersville a 39-37 advantage at the end of the third period, Holt nailed a trey and Brittany Umbles made two free throws to push CHS' lead to 44-37 early in the fourth.

Fayetteville then cut the deficit to 44-39 on two Jasmine Parks free throws, before the Lady Bulldogs responded with a 10-2 spurt behind six points from Brittnay Umbles to forge a 54-41 advantage with 2:40 left.

The Lady Tigers recorded six of the next eight points to close the gap to 56-47, but Cornersville outscored Fayetteville 6-2 over the final 1:25 with the aid of two Welch foul shots and layups from Brittany Umbles and Ashley Umbles to cap their 62-49 victory.