The Marshall County Tigerettes advanced to the Region 6-AA Tournament title game for the third season in a row after winning a 53-42 gun-slinging, semifinal battle over Creek Wood Monday night at Community.

“Huge win for the girls, for everybody involved, for the parents,” MCHS coach David Steely said. “It’s another year we are in the region finals and going to sub-state.”

The four-time state champions Tigerettes (19-8) take on Nolensville (25-4) in the championship game on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Unionville as the Lady Knights crushed Stewart County 65-44 in the second semifinal game Monday night.

This will be the fourth meeting this year between the two District 12-AA foes with the Lady Knights riding an eight-game winning streak over the Tigerettes, who have not beaten Nolensville since a 38-32 win at MCHS on February 6, 2018.

“We will be ready and we will give it our best shot,” Steely said. “I know we are going to be in the sub-state Saturday night with a chance to go to Murfreesboro and that’s where I want this program to be.”

The winner hosts a state sectional game on Saturday, while the loser travels to the victor of the Region 5-AA title game that pits Westmoreland (29-3) at Maplewood (29-5) on Wednesday.

“It’s that time of year and these girls understand what that means and it’s all they have known since high school, so I’m very proud,” Steely said.

Marshall County beat Creek Wood 44-28 in the region championship game last year and lost to Nolensville 46-38 in the 2017-2018 season.

“That was the other district’s number one team and one of the best teams we faced all year, so I’m really proud of them because this was a collective effort, everybody contributed in some way,” Steely said. “Everybody was able to put it in the hole when they got an opportunity and we played on both ends of the court the best we have all year.”

Both squads went deep on Monday night as they combined for 19 3-pointers in the contest with Tigerette junior sharpshooter Karlye Wiser leading the way with five long bombs while Sydney Tidwell banged home two and Kelsey Keiler and Dionna Crutcher landed one missile apiece.

Wiser had a team-high 16 points and Hannah Davis had her second big game in row in the low post with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

The Tigerettes also shot a solid 11-of-15 from the free throw line even though they missed the front end of a one-and-one bonus opportunity three times in a row from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter.

Crutcher had nine points, Keiler netted seven, Tidwell finished with six, and Israel Hurt added three points.

Creek Wood’s Brianna Burgess led all scorers in the game with 19 points, including four 3-pointers and Emily Michael was also in double figures with 14 and a pair of treys.

“They are really good on three’s, we let them have a few too many,” Steely said. “The best thing we did though….they usually shoot a lot of layups because people get spread out and they drive it and you don’t have help there, but we had help there and stopped that layup and that was a big, big deal because as the game went on it got harder for them to score.”

The Lady Red Hawks jumped out to an early 5-2 lead before Wiser drained a 3-pointer to spark a 7-0 Marshall County run to make it 9-5.

Things got insane after that as Emily Michaels made a 3-pointer, followed by a Keiler trey, followed by another Michaels 3-pointer as MCHS led 12-11.

Crutcher followed with a 3-pointer, but was matched again by a Raegan Taylor three-bomb.

Wiser finished off the long range attack with another 3-pointer at the end of the first quarter with the Tigerettes in front 18-14.

Creek Wood came back with a 6-2 run in the third quarter, tying the game at 20 on a Brianna Burgess 3-pointer that forced a Marshall County timeout with 3:16 remaining in the stanza.

Tidwell came up huge out of the stoppage, banging home a long trey as the Tigerettes clung to the lead before a pair of rebound and put-backs by Keiler and Davis extended MCHS’ lead to 27-21 at the half.

Wiser nailed two more 3-pointers in the third period, but the Lady Red Hawks hung in and trailed by just three points at 35-32.

Hurt came up with one free throw to make it a four-point game and after a Creek Wood missed shot, Tidwell rained home another 3-pointer and the third period ended on a Hurt rebound and put-back to give the Tigerettes a 41-32 lead, entering the fourth quarter.

Davis scored in the low post to begin the final stanza and Creek Wood went in to a cold streak from the field, facing a 14-point deficit when Wiser drained her final 3-pointer of the game to make it 46-32, forcing a Lady Red Hawks’ timeout with 4:57 left in the contest.

Brianna Burgess, who scored all eight of Creek Wood’s fourth quarter points, made a 3-pointer and the Tigerettes had a chance to put the game away early, but missed the front end of a one-and-one opportunity from the free throw line three consecutive times, but it didn’t matter as Keiler, Davis, and Crutcher all made two-of-two down the stretch from the charity stripe to seal the win and send MCHS to the title tilt.

“Missing those three did give them a chance, but we were able to finally make enough,” Steely said. “When you are up 14 with five minutes to go, you have a good chance to pull it out and I felt pretty good there and we got it there and executed and took care of the ball.”

Marshall County 18 9 14 12-53

Creek Wood 14 7 11 10-42

Marshall County (53): Karlye Wiser 16, Hannah Davis 12, Dionna Crutcher 9, Kelsey Keiler 7, Sydney Tidwell 6, Israel Hurt 3.

Three-Point Goals (9): Wiser 5, Tidwell 2, Keiler, Crutcher.

Free Throws (11-for-15): Davis 4-for-5, Crutcher 2-for-3, Keiler 2-for-2, Wiser 1-for-3, Hurt 1-for-2.

Creek Wood (42): Brianna Burgess 19, Emily Michael 14, Autumn Burgess 3, Raegan Taylor 3, Allie Burgess 3.

Three-Point Goals (10): Brianna Burgess 4, Michael 2, Autumn Burgess, Taylor, Allie Burgess.

Free Throws (4-for-6): Michael 3-for-3, Brianna Burgess 1-for-2, Autumn Burgess 0-for-1.

Halftime Score: Marshall County 27, Creek Wood 21.