By Michael Lindsay

Girls

The Smith County Lady Owls (13-4) picked up their fifth consecutive victory Tuesday evening as they traveled to DeKalb County and defeated the Lady Tigers, 60-45.

“We played solid,” said Smith County head coach Matt Ferrell. “We shot the ball well early and were really good defensively in the second half to put it away. We used the last quarter and a half to get some young kids some experience.”

Smith County was led in scoring by senior forward Chloe Collins with 22 points followed by 9 from Chloe Powell. Chloe VanVranken led DeKalb County with 16 along with 12 from Avery Agee.

“Chloe Collins played really well,” said Ferrell. “She had one of her better offensive games of the year. She can do a lot of things depending on who’s out there. With our first 7 or 8 kids out there, we may not have anybody that’ll have 40, but we’e got a lot that can give 10 or 12; they just want to win.”

Smith County jumped out to an early double-digit lead as a Karly Ramsey three-pointer gave the Lady Owls a 14-4 advantage with 4:36 left in the first quarter.

The Lady Owls led 20-9 after one period and extended their lead to 36-22 at halftime. Smith County held a 53-25 lead to end the third quarter before closing out to win by a 60-45 final score.

Smith County improves to 13-4 overall and is scheduled to play their District 5-2A opener at Monterey (1-10) on Thursday. DeKalb County falls to 5-12 and travels to White County (16-2) on Thursday.

“We’re pretty good in the half court, but we have to get a little better with our press stuff and transition,” said Ferrell. “We’ve got a bunch of young kids playing who want to rely on athleticism, but we have to work on the discipline. To beat the really good teams, you’ve got to be able to sit down and guard.”

Boys

The DeKalb County Tigers (8-9) defended their home floor on Tuesday as they defeated the Smith County Owls, 50-43.

“I’m really pleased with our defensive effort tonight,” said DeKalb County head coach Joey Agee. “They killed us in the first half from the three-point line so we switched to man and the kids did a really good job. We still have some things to clean up going into the district, but overall I’m really pleased with tonight.”

Jordan Parker scored a game-high 19 points to lead the Tigers followed by 13 from Jon Hendrix and 10 by Dallas Kirby. Morgan Sinclair led Smith County with 13 point along with 12 from Cooper Williams.

“Jordan did a really good job,” said Agee. “All the guys did good defensively. Smith County has some really good shooters, and our guys really got after them.”

The teams were tied at 13 points each following the first quarter before Smith County reeled off three consecutive three-pointers by Tyler Jones and Williams over a 1-minute stretch to take a 22-15 lead with 4:26 remaining until halftime.

DeKalb County battled back and closed their deficit to 22-19 at halftime via a Parker layup late in the second quarter.

The Tigers chipped away during the third quarter and retook the lead at 28-26 via a pair of Kirby free throws with 1:19 remaining in the third period. A late Smith County basket tied the contest at 28-28 entering the fourth quarter.

Parker opened the fourth with a basket followed by a Kirby three-pointer to give the Tigers a 33-28 advantage with 6:36 remaining. Smith County pulled within one possession (36-33) with 4:49 left, but got no closer as DeKalb County pushed their advantage back out to 42-33 with 2:23 remaining before winning by a 50-43 final score.

“We were able to use some mismatches,” said Agee. “We were able to go off the dribble a little, and when their big man was out we were able to get them into some pick and roll situations. We still left a bunch of points out there, though.”

14 of Parker’s 19 points came in the fourth quarter as he went 12-14 from the free-throw line in the frame.

Up next for both teams is district play on Thursday as DeKalb County travels to White County (6-10) in their 7-3A opener while Smith County travels to Monterey (2-7).

“White County is a tough place to play,” said Agee. “They go with Tripp Pinion and they have some really good shooters, too. We’ll have to do good with the quick turnaround to go in there.”