The Forrest Middle School Lady Rockets picked up their first win of the young season on Saturday afternoon when they defeated the New Prospect Lady Tigers 22-16 in the consolation finals of the Coffman Tip-off Tournament at E.O. Coffman Middle School.

Forrest (1-1) held the upper hand throughout the contest and built an 11-6 lead in the first half before opening up a 18-8 advantage at the end of the third quarter.

Tough stance

New Prospect (0-2) made a late rally attempt and whittled the deficit to 18-15 midway through the fourth period, but the Lady Rockets kept their poise down the stretch and outscored the Lady Tigers 4-1 over the final 1:14 to take home third place in the tournament.

Both teams finished with seven field goals apiece, but FMS outscored New Prospect 8-2 at the foul line. Although Forrest committed nine more turnovers (25-16) than the Lady Tigers, the Lady Rockets offset that by outrebounding New Prospect 34-27 overall.

Katey Harmon led FMS with seven points, while Madison Curtis tallied four points. Caitlyn McKenzie and Emma Stacey chipped in three points apiece as well with McKenzie pulling down a game high 12 rebounds. Kayla Gillespie and Kennedy Gillespie rounded out the scoring for the Lady Rockets with two and one point respectively.

Cheyenne Johnson, Abigail Barnett, and Sara Brown each notched four points to pace the Lady Tigers with Johnson and Pimentel combining for 15 rebounds and 10 steals. Ashlee Pimentel and Lauren Beckman also chipped in two points apiece for New Prospect.

Early lead

Forrest got off to a strong start and raced out to a 9-2 lead in the first quarter behind four points from Curtis and three points from McKenzie.

After the Lady Tigers narrowed the gap to 9-6 midway through the second period on the strength of baskets from Johnson and Pimentel, Yelensky hit two free throws in the final minute of the first half to give FMS an 11-6 advantage at the break.

Harmon then helped the Lady Rockets open up some breathing room in the third quarter, as she singlehandedly outscored New Prospect 7-2 in the stanza to stake Forrest to an 18-8 lead.

Close scare

The Lady Tigers tallied the first seven points of the fourth period to whittle the deficit to 18-15, before Kennedy Gillespie made one of two free throws to make it 19-15 with 1:17.

New Prospect closed the gap to 19-16 thanks to a foul shot by Beckman, but the Lady Rockets tallied the final three points of the game on a Stacey free throw and a Kayla Gillespie jumper to seal the 22-16 victory.