Cornersville Middle School girls basketball coach Peyton Newton got the better of his alma mater on Thursday night, as his Lady Bulldog squad defeated the Richland Lady Raiders 33-28 in the semifinals of the Cornersville Athletic Booster Club tournament.

Thursday's game was tightly contested throughout, as CMS held a 12-10 lead at halftime before the Lady Raiders seized a 20-18 advantage at the end of the third quarter.

The Lady Bulldogs (3-1), however, outplayed Richland (4-2) down the stretch and outscored the Lady Raiders 15-8 in the fourth period to pull out the hard fought five-point victory.

Big game

"This game was very important for me. Not only because I went to Richland, but because of the coach Landers deal and the fact that he coached these girls during the summer," said Newton. "Cornersville and Richland is also a big rivalry game. These are fun games to play, but it makes it even better when you win them."

Although the Lady Raiders held a 3-1 edge in three-pointers, the Lady Bulldogs finished with a 10-8 advantage in field goals thanks to a 4-of-5 shooting performance in the fourth quarter and outscored Richland 12-9 at the foul line. Cornersville outrebounded the Lady Raiders 29-24 as well and held a 12-10 edge on the offensive glass.

Center Morgan Terry recorded her second double-double of the season and led the Lady Bulldogs with 11 points, 13 rebounds, and two blocked shots. KiAnna Holder followed Terry with nine points, while Emma Mitchell, Taylor Powers, and Sara Beth Prosser tallied five, four, and three points respectively with Powers recording seven rebounds and four steals. Hannah Singleton also chipped in one point for CMS.

Savannah Alsup paced Richland with nine points and Riley Neely notched six points. Cory Henson and Caylee Parker added five points apiece for the Lady Raiders as well, while Mary Taylor Lee and Lexy Edwards had two and one point respectively.

Early lead

The Lady Bulldogs inched out to a 4-0 lead late in the first quarter thanks to a short jumper from Terry and two free throws but Richland tallied five of the next six points to tie the game at 5-5 early in the second period.

Cornersville then put together a 6-1 run on the strength of baskets from Powers, Prosser, and Holder to pull ahead 11-6 before the Lady Raiders scored four straight points to narrow the gap to 11-10 late in the second quarter.

Prosser hit one-of-two free throws in the waning moments of the half to give CMS a 12-10 advantage at the break, but Richland opened the third quarter with a 8-3 spurt to grab a 18-15 lead midway through the stanza.

After Cornersville tied the game at 18-18 on a Singleton free throw and a layup by Terry, Parker hit two free throws late in the third period to stake the Lady Raiders to a 20-18 lead.

Close calls

The Lady Bulldogs began to heat up offensively at the start of the fourth quarter and went on a 9-3 run behind five points from Mitchell to pull ahead 27-23 with 3:20 left.

Richland whittled the deficit to 27-26 on an Edwards free throw and a jumper by Neely, but Terry converted a three-point play with 1:50 remaining to push CMS' lead to 30-26.

After the Lady Raiders closed the gap to 30-28 on free throws by Henson and Neely, Powers made one-of-two foul shots to make it 31-28 with :19.

Henson then missed a three-pointer on Richland's final possession before Holder hit a short jumper as time expired to cap Cornersville's 33-28 victory.