Lady Wildcats Win Overtime Thriller Over Moore County
by Mike McGee [Photos]
  The Tullahoma Lady Wildcats let an 11-point second-half lead slip away then rallied for a 49-42 overtime win over visiting Moore County Tuesday night.
Junior Emily Gilbert hustles the ball up the court during the Lady Wildcats' overtime win over Moore County Tuesday night.
  The Lady Cats, now 2-4 on the season with a two-game win streak, played their most complete game of the season and never trailed by more than four points. They took a 20-18 lead into half time with sophomores Danae Thornburg and Olivia Barlow leading the way with five points each.
  The Lady Wildcats have played poorly out of the half-time break all season, but they reversed that trend Tuesday night, which proved to be one of the keys to the game. After Moore County scored the opening basket of the second half to tie it 20-20, the Lady Cats went on an 11-point run over the next 2:55 to take a 31-20 lead. Junior Emily Gilbert got the run started with a three pointer and would add a two-point basket less than two minutes later. Barlow, Kristen Vance and Katlin Buchanan added baskets to fill out the 11-point run.
  The Lady Cats appeared to lag a bit on defense after going up 33-22 with 2:20 left in the third quarter, and Moore County was quick to take advantage. The Raiderettes grabbed the momentum and cut it to 35-29 at the end of the third quarter then rattled off eight straight points to start the fourth to take a 37-35 lead. Eighth-grader Rachel Garland took the game over during Moore County’s rally, scoring eight of her team’s 10 points including a three-pointer that gave them the lead.
  Tullahoma tied it 37-37 with 3:44 left on a Buchanan basket, and after Moore County’s talented point guard, Vanessa Pincheon, made a basket and a free throw to lift her team to a 40-37 lead with 1:56 left, the Lady Cats came down and moved the ball more than a minute searching for a good shot, and they got it when Emily Gilbert popped free at the three-point line and drained the pressure shot to tie it 40-40 with 55 seconds left.
  Buchanan had one of the biggest plays of the game when she rotated over and took a charge on what would have been a go-ahead basket by Moore County with less than five seconds left. Tullahoma took a timeout and moved the ball the length of the floor, but Barlow’s on-the-money jumper came about a second after the buzzer.
  Barlow kept that shooting touch fine tuned early in the overtime and nailed the first two baskets of the four-minute period to give the Lady Cats a 44-40 lead with 2:14 left. Moore County cut it to two on a Fallon Boyce basket with 33.7 seconds left, but Thornburg put the game away by converting two one-and-one opportunities down the stretch, including a pair of knee-knockers to stretch the lead to four with 32.5 seconds left. Buchanan made it 47-42 with a free throw with 24.7 seconds left, and Thornburg closed the show with two more with 8.8 seconds remaining.
  The Lady Cats jump into District 8-AAA play Friday against visiting Lincoln County Game time is 6:30 p.m.

Moore County (42) Fallon Boyce, 12; Pincheon, 8; Rachel Garland, 13; Kight, 3; Durm, 2; Howell, 4.
Lady Wildcats (49) Danae Thornburg, 11; Olivia Barlow, 13; Emily Gilbert, 12; Katlin Buchanan, 7; Kristen Vance, 6.

Three Pointers:
Moore County (3) Garland, 2; Kight, 1.
Lady Wildcats (3) Olivia Barlow, 1; Emily Gilbert, 2.

Free Throws:
Moore County 7 for 9
Lady Wildcats 10 for 13