The Fayetteville Lady Tigers made the trek to face the Cornersville Lady Bulldogs for a District 8-A contest on Friday night.

The Lady Bulldogs, coming off a win against Santa Fe on Homecoming night, carried a three-point lead into halftime, but could not maintain the advantage as a second half surge by Fayetteville and cold shooting by Cornersville allowed the Lady Tigers to come away with a 46-36 victory.

The Lady Tigers had bested the Lady Bulldogs by a wide margin in the Richland Christmas Tournament in December.

“They beat us by 40 points at Christmas and tonight we played right there with them.” Cornersville coach Martha Jane McMasters said. “I’m proud of my girls”

The Lady Tigers were led by 6’3” Za’Naria Robinson, who tallied 14 points.

Alicia Polk scored 13 points to lead the Lady Bulldogs.

“We finally came up with a crazy idea to guard her (Robinson). The girls bought in to it and it worked before she got some layups,” McMasters said.

“Abbie (Woodard) did a good job on her,” Polk added.

The Lady Bulldogs controlled the tip and Polk quickly put Cornersville in the lead with a jump shot from inside the circle.

Carly Andrews evened the score on a short jumper before the Lady Bulldogs regained the lead on buckets by Woodard and on a put-back by Grayson Riner.

Fayetteville then came back with a bucket by Hannah Litaker and a 3-point basket by Elexis Humphrey to take the lead at 7-6

Eighth-grader Gracie Turner, continuing her good work down low for Cornersville, scored on a layup and Woodard did the same.

Robinson sank a free throw, but another eighth-grader Kayli Childress, bombed in a 3-point basket to extend Cornersville’s lead to 13-8 at the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter began as did the first quarter with Polk getting a bucket.

Payton Salsman sank two free throws to extend Cornersville’ lead to nine points at 17-8.

Fayetteville quickly responded with a 3-point goal by Hannah Griffin and Robinson, making her presence known, laid the ball in and Fayetteville trailed by four points 17-13.

Turner hit one-of-two free throws for the Lady Bulldogs before Litaker scored to make it 18-15.

Lexie Warren sank two free-throws to push the lead back out to five points until Robinson brought the Lady Tigers back with a basket plus a free throw and on the next Fayetteville possession, Robinson sank two more free throws to cut the Cornersville lead to one point.

Polk tallied a late basket to give Cornersville a three-point halftime lead at 22-19.

The third quarter started well for Cornersville with a bucket by Salsman that was offset by a basket by Andrews, but baskets by Riner and Polk found the range to push the lead to 28-21.

The Lady Bulldogs shooting went cold and Fayetteville began their comeback.

Robinson poured in three baskets and a free throw to tie the game with just under three minutes to play in the quarter.

Robinson had to take a seat when she was whistled for her third foul, but after a Fayetteville timeout at the 2:10 mark of the quarter, the Lady Tigers took a 30-28 lead on a basket by Litaker.

Warren sank a free throw for Cornersville to make the score 30-29, but Gracie Hoagland scored inside to push the Fayetteville lead to three points at the end of the third quarter.

The cold shooting continued for the Lady Bulldogs as two baskets by Griffin and one by Andrews extended the lead to nine points at 38-29.

Polk broke the drought for Cornersville, but an Isabella Martin basket kept the Fayetteville lead at nine points.

Turner added a basket and a free throw to edge the Lady Bulldogs closer at 40-34, but Humphrey sank a basket with time running down in the game.

Forced to foul, Cornersville fought a losing battle as solid free throw shooting by Fayetteville sealed the game and when the final horned sounded, the Lady Tigers came away with a 10-point victory, 46-36.

“I felt we played more as a team,” Polk said. “We were there for each other and we backed each other up. We were ready to play.”

Fayetteville 8 11 14 13-46

Cornersville 13 9 7 7-36

Fayetteville (46) Zanaria Robinson 14, Carly Andrews 8, Hannah Litaker 6, Gracie Hoagland 6, Elexis Humphrey 5, Isabella Martin 4, Hannah Griffin 3, .

Free Throws (12-for-20): Martin 4-for-4, Hoagland 4-for-4, Robinson 4-for-5, Litaker 0-for-2, Humphrey 0-for-2, N. Andrews 0-for-3.

Three-Point Goals (1): Humphrey.

Cornersville (36) Alicia Polk 10, Gracie Turner 8, Abbie Woodard 4, Payton Salsman 4, Merihannah Walker 4, Lexie Warren 3, Jayli Childress 3.

Free Throws (9-for-15): Warren 3-for-7, Turner 2-for-4, Salsman 2-for-2, Woodard 2-for-2.

Three-Point Goals (1): Childress.

Halftime score: Cornersville 24, Fayetteville 20.