The Cornersville Lady Bulldogs hosted former District 11-A foe Mt. Pleasant Thursday night and the hometown girls came away with a 57-37 win to give first year coach Martha Jane McMasters her first win of her career.

The former Lady Bulldog standout got the victory due to some steady play by returning players Alicia Pope, Bethany Fitzgerald, and Meri Hannah Walker.

“I felt like overall we played really well with a good team effort,” McMasters said. “I believe we out rebounded them in both halves, it was just a good effort from our team.”

“Also, Lexie Warren and Grayson Riner, a freshman did really good jobs off the bench tonight.”

The Lady Bulldogs controlled the tip and with an assist from Pope, Fitzgerald banked in a two-footer to open the scoring.

Mt. Pleasant responded quickly as center Gracie English rolled in a shot to tie the game at 2-2.

Fitzgerald scored on the Cornersville end and was fouled by English before going to the free throw line and sinking both shots.

The intensity of the game picked up and both teams began to draw some fouls.

Payton Salsman canned two free throws for Cornersville to push the lead to 6-2, but Mt. Pleasant’s Kielee Bradley nailed a three-pointer for a 6-5 lead.

Mt. Pleasant came back behind a Baileigh Gray three to make the score 14-8 and Caleigh Clark added two free throws to slice the lead to two points.

With the intensity still increasing and fouls being called, Cornersville’s Abbie Woodard picked up her third early in the second quarter and Warren came off the bench to take her place.

Warren quickly made a contribution by feeding Fitzgerald for a layup that pushed the lead to six points.

Pope scored twice for Cornersville and English added a short jumper for Mt. Pleasant before Bradley added two free throws;

The Lady Tigers kept close at 20-14 before Fitzgerald and Pope added baskets to push the Cornersville lead to 24-14.

Clark dropped in a three pointer and Meri Hannah Walker answered with a shot from the corner to put the Lady Dawgs up 26-17.

As the quarter ticked down, the Lady Bulldogs went cold and a basket by Gray and a three-pointer by teammate Emily Crossman made the score Cornersville 26, Mt. Pleasant 22 at the half.

The third quarter began with Gray quickly finding her range with a 12-footer to cut the Cornersville lead to 26-24.

Fitzgerald was whistled for her third personal foul and had to come out of the game with Riner coming in to take her place.

Walker hit a corner three-pointer to push the lead to 29-24 and Woodard, after sitting in the first half because of foul trouble, came back with two quick baskets and a free throw to make it a 10-point game.

Pope drained a three-pointer and Crossman answered as she nailed her second three-pointer to make it 37-27, Lady Bulldogs.

Warren proved she can shoot the ball as well as dish it off, scoring on a jumper to make it 39-27.

Riner then made back-to-back baskets as well as blocking a shot on the defensive end.

Mary Rogers scored on a short jumper for Mt. Pleasant to make it 43-29 before Gray and Clark finished the scoring for the Lady Tigers in the third quarter to keep the Cornersville lead at 10 points.

The fourth quarter saw Cornersville tighten down on defense and they were also aided by misses at the free throw line by Mt. Pleasant.

Pope found the range for another three-pointer and Walker was fouled on a three-point effort, canning two-of-three free throws to make it 48-33.

After a Mt. Pleasant missed shot, Walker got an offensive rebound and put-back at the other end for a 50-33 lead.

Cornersville poured it on with a Walker basket off an assist by Warren followed by Pope and Warren buckets to put the game away at 57-33.

“We just came out and played our hardest and we came out with a win tonight,” Fitzgerald said.

Mt. Pleasant 10 12 11 4 - 37

Cornersville 14 12 17 14 - 57

Mt. Pleasant (37): Bailey Gray 12, Kielee Bradley 11, Gracie English 6, Emily Crossman 4, Caleigh Clark 2, Mary Rogers 2.

3-Point Goals (5): Bradley 3, Gray, Crossman.

Free Throws (6-for-18): Bradley 2-for-2, Gray 1-for-2, Crossman 1-for-2, Clark 0-for-1, Rogers 0-for-1, English 2-for-10.

Cornersville (57): Alicia Polk 17, Merihannah Walker 12, Bethany Fitzgerald 12, Abbie Woodard 5, Lexie Warren 4, Grayson Riner 4, Payton Salsman 3.

3-Point Goals (4): Polk 3, Walker.

Free Throws (9-for-16): Salsman 3-for-4, Fitzgerald 2-for-3, Walker 3-for-5, Woodard 1-for-4.

Halftime Score: Cornersville 26, Mt. Pleasant 22.