Lady Tigers one win away from state tourney

The Hardin County Lady Tiger basketball team picked up two wins in the Region 7-AAA basketball tournament to earn them a berth in the region championship game. The Lady Tigers defeated Bartlett on Friday night and then picked up a win over Craigmont on Monday in the region semifinals.

With the berth in the region finals, the Lady Tigers secure a spot in Saturday’s sectional round. The winner of the sectional game on Saturday will advance to the TSSAA State Tournament, which will be held March 9-12 in Murfeesboro.

The Lady Tigers were scheduled to play Cordova on Wednesday night in the region championship game. With a victory against Cordova, Hardin County would host the sectional game on Saturday. If the Lady Tigers lost to Cordova, Hardin County would travel to Memphis on Saturday to play either Memphis Central or Memphis Overton from Region 8.

The Lady Tigers improved their overall record on the season to 20-3 with the two wins last week.

Lady Tigers 60, Craigmont 49 (OT) (Region Semifinals)

Hardin County used a 12-4 run in overtime and outscored Craigmont 18-7 in the overtime period to pick up the win on Monday night. The Lady Tigers trailed in the game for most of the first half and found themselves behind 24-17 at halftime.

The Lady Tigers closed the gap to one point in the third quarter. However, Craigmont pulled back in front by a score of 35-30 after three quarters.

The five-point margin would be the biggest in the final quarter of play. Hardin County tied the game at 36-36 in the first three minutes, and the two teams stayed within two points for the rest of the quarter. With the game tied at 42-42 with 1:25 remaining on the clock, both teams had a chance to break the tie in the final minute. Neither team was able to score to force the game into an overtime period.

Hardin County grabbed the first lead of overtime and never gave it up for the remaining four minutes. The Lady Tigers led 46-44 with just over two minutes remaining on the clock. In the next two minutes, Hardin County outscored Craigmont 14-4 to move one step closer to the ultimate goal of the state tournament.

Senior Hannah Robinson was the leading scorer for the Lady Tigers with 24 points. Robinson scored eight points in the overtime period. Katie Terry also finished in double figures in scoring with 10 points. Tonisha Combs added nine points for Hardin County.

Lady Tigers Scoring vs. Craigmont (60) Hannah Robinson 24, Katie Terry 10, Tonisha Combs 9, Keagan Handley 7, Morgan Willoughby 6, Emily Gray 4

Lady Tigers 60, Bartlett 53 Region Quarterfinals)

Hardin County got one more chance to play in front of the home crowd at McCaleb Welch Gymnasium in their region quarterfinal game against Bartlett on Friday night. The crowd was electric from start to finish and really seemed to give the Lady Tigers the momentum they needed to advance to the semifinal round of the Region 7-AAA Tournament.

The Lady Tigers got off to a fast start against Bartlett by jumping out to a 14-5 lead in the first four minutes of the game. Hardin County led the Lady Panthers by a score of 21-12 after the first quarter of play.

Bartlett cut the Hardin County lead to as few as four points in the second quarter, but couldn’t get any closer. The Lady Tigers took a 35-29 lead with them into the locker room at halftime. Hardin County maintained their lead in the third quarter. Bartlett got as close as one point late in the quarter, but the Lady Tigers closed the third quarter with a 6-1 run to lead 44-37 going into the final quarter of play.

Bartlett seemed to be making one final push during the first four minutes of the fourth quarter. After the Lady Panthers pulled to within two points at 47-45, Hardin County put together what proved to be the game-winning spurt. The Lady Tigers scored eight consecutive points, including a six-point trip that was helped out by a technical foul on a Bartlett player. Hannah Robinson scored all eight of those points during the stretch to give Hardin County a 55-45 lead at the three-minute mark of the final quarter. Bartlett could not pull any closer than five points the rest of the way as Hardin County held on for the seven-point victory.

Robinson was the leading scorer for Hardin County in the game with 20 points. Tonisha Combs and Katie Terry each scored 14 points for the Lady Tigers.

Lady Tiger Scoring vs. Bartlett (60) Hannah Robinson 20, Tonisha Combs 14, Katie Terry 14, Keagan Handley 4, Courtney VanFleet 4, Emily Gray 4