The Marshall County Tigerettes (12-3, 3-0) kept pace with Nolensville (13-4, 3-0) at top of the District 12-AA standings with a big 60-54 win over the Forrest Lady Rockets (13-6, 0-3) Tuesday night at Lewisburg in an intra-county rivalry contest.

The Tigerettes were buoyed by a great first three minutes of the game as they took an early 10-0 lead and a great first three minutes of the pivotal fourth period when they went on a 7-0 run to open up a nine-point lead and then held firm for the win.

“Those were two good stretches for us and I was proud that we answered both times they made their comeback, we have a new group this year and I wasn’t sure we could do that and we are showing we can,” MCHS coach David Steely said. “It was a big win, big game, anytime it’s Forrest and us it’s a big rivalry now in the same county and I know they are a really good team when they are all there.”

Kelsey Keiler, who became a 1,000 point scorer for the Tigerettes, led the way with 18 points and Dionna Crutcher also had a big night with 17 points, including three 3-pointers.

Hannah Davis chipped in with nine points and Sydney Tidwell and Karlye Wiser had a pair of 3-pointers apiece.

“Dionna and Kelsey are our two main scorers, but we got contributions from everyone,” Steely said. “Karlye Wiser made two 3’s, Sydney Tidwell made two 3’s and we got four points off the bench from Israel Hurt, and that’s back-to-back games she given us some points and her defensive intensity was focused tonight and she played hard.”

Tidwell and Wiser nailed back-to-back 3-pointers in the Tigerettes’ first period burst and

Tidwell banged home a trey to put the game away late in the fourth quarter.

Carissa Curtis led all scorers in the contest with 21 points, drilled five 3-pointers, and went a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the game.

Forrest came back from the early 10-0 deficit and trailed by just one point at 15-14 by the end of the first period.

The Tigerettes took off again to begin the second quarter on a Crutcher bucket, one free throw by Keiler, and after a Forrest missed shot, Keiler made it a 22-14 contest when she converted a three-point play the old fashioned way.

The Tigerettes’ defense held the Lady Rockets to six points in the third quarter and led 31-21 at the half.

Forrest trailed by eight points late in the period when they went on a 6-0 run that was capped off by a Jaide Langley jumper in the lane to make it a two-point, 37-35 game entering the final eight minutes.

Keiler scored the first five points in the fourth quarter to stretch the lead to seven points and Crutcher came up with a swipe and score to extend the lead to nine points at 44-35 when Forrest called timeout with 6:27 to play in the game.

The Lady Rockets did manage to cut the lead to four points on a late Laura Mealer 3-pointer with 46.4 seconds left in the contest, but the Tigerettes held on for the win.

It looks like the regular season belongs to either the Tigerettes or Nolensville (13-4, 3-0) and the two teams meet up on Tuesday at Lewisburg.

Before that, MCHS travels to Murfreesboro Central Magnet School (9-6, 1-2) on Friday while Nolensville hosts Forrest.

The run to the District 12-AA Tournament will go fast and the Tigerettes have home court advantage, hosting the district tournament while the Region 6-AA Tournament is at Community.

“Every game is going to be a war with everybody, of course Nolensville has the most talent and is going to be the toughest,” Steely said. “Every night you have to come to play and if you don’t play good you’re probably going to lose, but I like where we are, we are 3-0 and like I told them, as long as there is a zero by that, I’ll know what place we are in.”

Forrest 14 7 14 19-54

MCHS 15 16 6 23-60

Forrest (54): Carissa Curtis 21, Ally Blanton 10, Jaide Langley 8, Laura Mealer 5, Shea Lewis 4, Macyn Kirby 3, Ryann Lewis 2, Megan Mealer 1.

Three-Point Goals (7): Curtis 5, Kirby, Laura Mealer.

Free Throws (15-for-19): Curtis 4-for-4, Langley 4-for-4, Blanton 2-for-2, Ryann Lewis 2-for-2, Laura Mealer 2-for-5, Megan Mealer 1-for-2,

Marshall County (): Dionna Crutcher 18, Kelsey Keiler 17, Hannah Davis 9, Sydney Tidwell 6, Karlye Wiser 6, Israel Hurt 4.

Three-Point Goals (7): Crutcher 3, Tidwell 2, Wiser 2.

Free Throws (11-for-18): Kelsey Keiler 9-for-13, Davis 1-for-2, Crutcher 1-for-3.

Halftime Score: Marshall County 31, Forrest 21.