After crushing archrival Richland 36-16 four days earlier, the Cornersville Middle School Lady Bulldogs (10-4) reeled off their fourth straight win on Monday night when they defeated Riverside Christian Academy 30-25 at home to complete the season sweep of the Lady Knights.

Despite trailing much of the first half, the Lady Bulldogs took a 14-11 lead into the break prior to opening up a 24-15 advantage early in the fourth quarter.

Cornersville then had to fend off a RCA rally attempt down the stretch that saw the Lady Knights cut the deficit to four points on five different occasions before claiming the five-point victory.

Although RCA outrebounded the Lady Bulldogs 40-32 and finished with a 9-8 advantage in field goals, Cornersville held a 2-0 edge in three-pointers and outscored the Lady Knights 12-7 at the foul line.

CMS scorers

Center Morgan Terry led CMS with 10 points, 12 rebounds, five steals, and two blocked shots, while Kianna Holder and Hannah Singleton both tallied five points. Taylor Powers, Sara Beth Prosser, and Emma Mitchell chipped in three points apiece for the Lady Bulldogs as well and Kendall Garrell had one point.

"Morgan didn't have her best offensive game, but she played good defense and rebounded well. The game plan was to get the ball inside, but we settled for too many outside jumpers," said Cornersville coach Peyton Newton.

After scoring 30 points in the last meeting between the two teams, RCA point guard Emma Campbell mustered only seven points against CMS in Monday's contest on 2-of-22 shooting. Kennedy Honey paced the Lady Knights with nine points and 12 rebounds, while Heidi Ezell, Ellie Hammans, and Libby Wright added four, three, and, two points respectively.

Defensive plan

"We knew number 3 (Campbell) and number 10 (Honey) were their two best players and we wanted to frustrate them. We tried to deny them the ball and double teamed them as much as we could," said Newton.

RCA held a 6-3 lead at the end of the first quarter before Mitchell nailed a trey from the right wing at the start of the second period to tie the game at 6-6.

The Lady Knights outscored CMS 5-3 over the next 3:41 to pull back ahead 11-9, but Holder tallied the final five points of the half on a jumper and a three to stake the Lady Bulldogs to a 14-11 advantage at the break.

Breathing room

Terry provided Cornersville with some breathing room in the second half by hitting a layup and converting a three-point play to push CMS' lead to 19-11 midway through the third quarter.

After RCA narrowed the gap to 19-14 on a three-point play by Campbell, the Lady Bulldogs responded with a 5-1 spurt thanks to three points from Terry and a Powers jumper to forge a 24-15 advantage early in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Knights then outscored Cornersville 7-2 over the next 4:40 to sliced the deficit to 26-22, but Singleton and Terry combined to hit four-of-six free throws in the final minute of the contest to help preserve CMS' 30-25 win.