Story and photos by Kailee Means
DeKalb County split matchups Tuesday night on the first day of the Watertown Christmas Shootout.
The DeKalb County Lady Tigers earned a win in overtime against Community 59-53.
The Lady Tigers outscored Community 30-26 at the end of the first half. The two teams then battled throughout the second half leading to a 46-46 tie at the end of the fourth quarter to send it into overtime. The Tigerettes executed defense effectively in the overtime period to win the game.
“We had a real problem with the tempo of the game,” said DCHS head coach Danny Fish. “We kept wanting to speed the tempo up, and I thought Community did a good job at controlling that tempo for three quarters. Our girls showed a lot of heart, passion, determination and everything that we try to teach them. We got after it a little bit better towards the end of the game. We were able to make some key free-throws that allowed us to tie the game and stay in the game.”
Scoring for the Tigerettes, sophomore Ella VanVranken led with 19 points, senior Kadee Ferrell had 13 points, junior Madison Martin had 10 points, freshman Avery Agee had seven points, senior Natalie Snipes had three points, sophomore Ally Fuller had three points, freshman Dare Collins had two points and sophomore Ella Hendrixson had two points.
The Tigerettes are set to take on Gallatin at 3 p.m. Wednesday on day two of the Watertown Christmas Shootout.
The DeKalb County Tigers lost to Siegel Tuesday night 50-39.
DeKalb trailed Siegel for the entirety of the game as Siegel outscored the Tigers 29-19 in the first half and 21-20 in the second half.
“Siegel is a very athletic team and got after us a little bit defensively,” said DCHS head coach John Sanders. “I was pleased with our guys. We got down early I think by 17 at one point in the first half and cut it to 10 at half time. Midway through the fourth we’re down seven with the ball and we played with them for the rest of the game after getting down early. I was pleased with our guys not quitting and working on what we need to do to get better. It was good for us to play somebody with that athleticism, speed, quickness and physicality to show us what we need to work on and get better at.”
Scoring for the Tigers, junior Elishah Ramos led with 12 points, senior Isaac Knowles had nine points, junior Robert Wheeler had eight points, junior Stetson Agee had six points, senior Nathaniel Crook had two points and freshman Jordan Parker had two points.
The Tigers are set to take on Community at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday on day two of the Watertown Christmas Shootout.
“Get in the gym and practice shooting,”said Sanders. “We have to get after it defensively, be patient on offense and get good looks and the ball will go in the hole.”
