By Brannon King

For the FCT

The Tharptown Lady Wildcats traveled to Belgreen and picked up a big win over the Lady Bulldogs by a score of 63-59.

The win gave Tharptown another area victory after already knocking off Phillips this year.

Belgreen lost for the first time this season after starting the year 7-0.

Tharptown started the game well leading 15-7 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Wildcats were then able to outscore Belgreen by six points in the second quarter to take a 29-15 lead into halftime.

Belgreen got going in the second half of the game, which featured many fouls and free-throw opportunities.

The Lady Bulldogs outscored Tharptown by five points in the third quarter and by five more in the fourth, but the large first half deficit proved too much for Belgreen to overcome.

Belgreen got within three points but then Tharptown’s Savannah Hamilton was able to make the second of two free throws after missing the first with 4.7 seconds to go in the game to seal the win for the Lady Wildcats.

Kamri Sears of Tharptown led all scorers with 20 points. Kaitlyn Vandiver of Tharptown and Jasmine Martin of Belgreen each had 17 points.

Haley Malone also scored in double figures for the Lady Wildcats with 14 points. Other scorers for Tharptown included Brooke Daniel with five points, Savannah Hamilton with four and Danielle Creasy with three points.

After Martin’s 17 points for Belgreen, Lexie Bragwell had 13, Allyson Bragwell and Breanna Wood scored 12 points each, Laken Bragwell finished with three points and Hanna Taylor had two.

The win was important for Tharptown and head coach Chad Green.

“I think we started off fast,” Green said.

“We got into a little foul trouble early in the ballgame and we couldn’t pressure as much as we wanted to.

“In the second half, they got hot and we didn’t rebound the ball like we should have and let them back in the ballgame, but we gutted it out and it was a big area win for us.”