Peyton Newton's first game as the head coach of the Cornersville Lady Bulldogs went off without a hitch, as CHS whipped the Fayetteville Lady Tigers 58-39 at home on Tuesday night in their season opener.

Having won all four previous meetings against Fayetteville, Cornersville had to overcome some first game jitters and trailed by three points early in the second quarter before eventually taking a 29-22 lead into the break.

The Lady Bulldogs then dominated the final two quarters of play and used a 28-9 run to open up a 57-31 cushion midway through the fourth quarter en route to claiming the 19-point victory.

'Feels good'

"It feels very good to get that first win. I was a tad bit nervous coming into it, but I saw the girls attitude before the game and they were excited, which made me excited," said Newton. "I think we were a little too excited early on, but in the second quarter we started to slow things down and get the looks we wanted. We played unselfishly and moved the ball well."

Cornersville pounded the ball into the paint for most of the contest and finished with 19 field goals on 40 percent shooting, while recording 13 assists and attempting just four three-pointers, hitting one. The Lady Bulldogs also hit 19-of-26 free throws, outrebounded the Lady Tigers 42-21, and held a 12-7 edge on the offensive glass.

Junior center Ashley Umbles led CHS' offensive attack by pouring in a game high 19 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go along with seven rebounds, four assists, and four steals. Brooke Holt followed Umbles with 14 points, seven rebounds, and four steals, while Britton Stewart tallied five points. Breanne Dunkleman, Kelsey Wortham, and Samantha Prosser chipped in four points apiece as well, and Carson Coble notched three points. Haley Stacey (two points), Madison Hopkins (two points), and Kennedy Wilson (one point) rounded out the scoring for the Lady Bulldogs.

Strong 'D'

Cornersville, meanwhile, limited Fayetteville to just 26 percent (14-of-53) shooting, which included a 4-of-21 effort from beyond the arc. The Lady Tigers also struggled at the foul line and made only 7-of-17 free throws.

Trevah Thompson paced Fayetteville with 14 points and Tamia Baker added eight points. Lexie Horton tallied six points for the Lady Tigers as well and Sarah Lawson had five points.

Fayetteville jumped out to an early 7-3 lead before the Lady Bulldogs tied the game at 9-9 late in the first quarter thanks to two Holt free throws and a pair of layups from Dunkleman and Wortham.

After the Lady Tigers notched the next three points to pull ahead 12-9 early in the second period, Cornersville went on a 14-5 run behind seven points from Holt and layups from Umbles, Hopkins, and Coble to seize a 23-17 lead with 2:25 left in the stanza.

Scoring run

Baker drilled a trey to narrow the gap to 23-20, before the Lady Bulldogs outscored Fayetteville 6-2 over the final 2:00 of the half with the help of an Umbles layup and a couple of baskets from Stewart to make it 29-22 at the break.

CHS then began to pull away from the Lady Tigers at the start of the second half and put together an 18-3 run on the strength of six points from Umbles and five points from Holt to stretch their lead to 47-25 late in the third quarter.

Horton buried a three to trim the deficit to 47-28 at the end of the third quarter, but the Lady Bulldogs outscored Fayetteville 10-3 through the first 3:30 of the fourth with the aid of six points from Umbles to forge a 57-31 advantage before coasting to the 58-39 win.