By Kailee Dick
Stone Memorial and DeKalb County lit up the scoreboard in Smithville Tuesday evening as the Lady Tigers defeated SMHS in a high-scoring District 7AA contest, 6-5.
“My girls played well and Stone played well also,” said DeKalb County head coach Dylan Kleparek. “They capitalized on their opportunities and we missed a few of our opportunities that we had. Overall I think the effort and the drive were great.”
Stone Memorial scored first as Shelby Vitous found the back of the net in the 12th minute of the match to give the Lady Panthers a 1-0 lead.
DeKalb County answered with three goals to take a 3-1 lead late in the first half. DeKalb’s Katherine Knowles scored two along with one from Candice Rico.
Stone Memorial ended the first half with another goal from Vitous to make the halftime margin 3-2 in favor of the Lady Tigers.
“My girls are pretty versatile in seeing what the other team is doing, and we try to work against what they are doing,” said Kleparek. “In the first half they were playing a flat back in the back, so we were playing through balls and then Stone started dropping off. We got a little more possession, so that was a good adjustment.”
The second half was a shootout as both teams scored three more goals. DeKalb’s second-half goals were from Knowles and Emily Robinson while Stone Memorial’s were from Emma Thompson and Peyton McGinnis.
DeKalb County will travel to district foe White County next Tuesday at 6 p.m. while Stone Memorial will host Tullahoma this Thursday at 6 p.m.
