Despite stumbling down the stretch, the Cornersville Lady Bulldogs (5-2, 2-1 District) defeated Mt. Pleasant for the 14th straight time on Tuesday night when they edged the Lady Tigers 54-51 at home.

The Lady Bulldogs held 46-31 lead midway through the fourth quarter and appeared to have the game in hand, but were forced to operate without starting center Ashley Umbles and guard Breanne Umbles during crunch time after both players fouled out a short time later.

Narrow escape

Cornersville then had to hold on for dear life at the end of the contest, as Mt. Pleasant (1-6, 1-2 District) sliced the deficit to 54-51 before missing a potential game tying three-pointer on their final possession.

Although CHS committed 21 turnovers, the Lady Bulldogs made the most of the scoring opportunities, as they shot 48 percent (15-of-31) from the field overall, which included a 2-of-4 effort from beyond the arc, while making 22-of-30 free throw attempts.

Senior shooting guard Brooke Holt helped CHS stave off the Lady Tigers' upset bid by pouring in a season high 24 points on 7-of-14 shooting to go along with six rebounds.

Making room

"We knew they couldn't stop Brooke because she's a strong player and is hard to guard when she gets into the paint. We did a better job of creating space and clearing out for her tonight," said Cornersville coach Peyton Newton.

Dunkleman followed Holt with six points, while Madison Hopkins and Kelsey Wortham each added five points with Hopkins recording six steals. Samantha Prosser, Britton Stewart, and Carson Coble chipped in four points apiece for the Lady Bulldogs as well, and Umbles had two points.

Mt. Pleasant shot a dismal 29 percent (13-of-45) from the field overall and hit just 16-of-29 free throws, but stayed in the game by knocking down 9-of-21 three-point attempts. The Lady Tigers also committed only 15 turnovers, outrebounded CHS 25-23, and held a 15-5 edge on the offensive glass.

Katelyn Haywood paced three Mt. Pleasant players in double figures with 21 points. Alyssa Lemay notched 17 points for the Lady Tigers as well, while India Frierson added 10 points.

First-half run

Mt. Pleasant inched out to a 7-5 lead late in the first quarter before the Lady Bulldogs went on an 8-1 run, highlighted by a Hopkins trey and a three-point play by Holt, to seize a 13-8 advantage early in the second period.

After the Lady Tigers outscored Cornersville 5-1 over the next four minutes to narrow the gap to 14-13, CHS tallied four straight points thanks to a Holt layup and a offensive put back by Umbles to stretch their lead to 18-13.

Lemay sandwiched a pair of threes around two Holt free throws to cut the deficit to 20-19 at halftime, but the Lady Bulldogs opened the third quarter with a 13-2 spurt on the strength of six points from Holt and five points from Dunkleman to forge a 33-21 advantage.

Pulling ahead

Mt. Pleasant notched four straight points to close the gap to 33-25 late in the third period before Cornersville outscored the Lady Tigers 13-6 over the next 4:45 with the help of six points from Holt, four points from Wortham, and a Stewart three-point play to open up a 46-31 cushion midway through the fourth.

CHS would see that lead quickly evaporate, as Mt. Pleasant put together a 17-6 run to whittle the deficit to 52-48 with 1:01 remaining.

Coble made two free throws to give the Lady Bulldogs a 54-48 lead, but Haywood was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three foul shots to make it 54-51 with 15.6 seconds left.

After Cornersville missed a breakaway layup, the Lady Tigers had one final chance to tie game, but Lemay missed badly on off balance three-pointer as time expired.