By Keith Ledbetter

With the sweep of last week’s Kossuth Miss. Varsity Girls’ Shoot Out Tournament in hand, the Red Bay Lady Tigers kicked off their season opener against Hatton this past Tuesday night.

Because the game occurred after press deadlines, results will be printed next week.

Red Bay defeated Corinth 65-52 in the tournament’s opening game last Monday, November 24, and took the championship win over Alcorn Central 18-12 on the following night.

Allie Kennedy led Red Bay with 24 points, Darby Madden had 22 in game one.

A Madden two pointer, and a three-pointer by Kennedy gave Red Bay an early lead over the Lady Warriors going into game one.

Kennedy added her back-to-back second and third three-pointers with just over two minutes remaining in the first period to extend Red Bay’s lead to 17-5.

By halftime Red Bay took a 43-18 lead over Corinth, and had a 60-31 advantage going into the final quarter.

Alcorn Central girls’ head coach Charlette Foster had an unusual game plan for the championship game on Tuesday. Instead of playing the Lady Tigers in the normal fashion, she instructed her girls to freeze the ball throughout most of all the four quarters.

As a result of the unorthodox decision, the game was very low scoring.

Red Bay’s Madden opened with two foul shots, followed by a Morgan Pierce basket.

In an attempt to steal the ball, Red Bay picked up eight fouls in the first half, which sent the Lady Bears to the free throw line. After the first quarter ended in a 4-4 tie, the Lady Tigers picked up eight points in the second quarter on a Morgan Pierce steal and a layup by Katie Burks.

Hope Cook and Allie Kennedy connected on three pointers to extend the Tigers’ lead to 12-8 at halftime.

Alcorn Central continued to freeze the ball in the third and as a result the quarter was scoreless for both teams.

The Lady Bears held the ball for over seven minutes and only attempted to score in the final seconds of the quarter.

Madden, who was high scorer with eight points, scored all six point for Red Bay in the final quarter.

Allie Kennedy and Hope Cook scored three points each, Morgan Pierce and Katie Burks added two each.

Red Bay will host Phil Campbell on Friday, December 5th. Game time is at 6:30.