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The Central Magnet Lady Tigers might be glad they are no longer members of District 8-AA as they weren't too fortunate when revisiting a former district opponent.
Friday night in Woodbury, the team from Murfreesboro paid a visit for the first time since they knocked the Lionettes out of postseason play last season and Cannon welcomed them with a dominating 50-26 win.
"Central loves to keep it in the 30-35 point range," Cannon Cunty coach Coach Jonathan Odom said. "So we're going to have to up the tempo to give us our best chance of winning."
Upping the tempo they did after the first quarter. Central showed signs of staying with Cannon in a slow-pace first quarter, trailing only 7-3, but then the Lionettes put on a stifling full-court press and rewarded themselves for the effort with a 14-point lead at half.
Keeping the full court pressure on for most of the third quarter, the Lionettes were able for the first time this season keep an opponent from scoring in the entire period and led 43-12.
That was as big as the Lionette lead got as Odom emptied his bench midway through the fourth quarter as the Lionettes brought home their second consecutive win 50-26.
Cannon County shot a decent 40% from the field but the biggest stat of the night was only committing a total of eight turnovers while forcing twelve Central Magnet miscues. The Lionettes effectively got the ball inside on their half court sets and Maleah Scott responded with a game high 13 points and Olivia Walkup added 8 off the bench.
Others in the scoring column for the Lionettes included: Jessie Kauffman-10, Tori Knox-2, Madison Gaither-9, Kristin Fann-3, Anna Grace Sissom-5. Cannon is now 4-6 overall.
• One of the most important games of the early season especially in the District 8-AA portion happened at Robert A. Harris Gymnasium on Dec. 12 as the Cannon County Lionettes hosted the York Institute Lady Dragons out of Jamestown.
Cannon County was 0-3 in the district entering the contest and since they were coming off one of the worst defeats to their rival in DeKalb County by 30 points the previous Friday, it was a chance to see how the Lionettes would respond after that loss.
The game went back and forth in the first few minutes of the first quarter but just like the games against Upperman and DeKalb, York got a cushion of a lead and stretched it to lead to 12 early in the second quarter.
But unlike the prior two opponents, the Lionettes started hitting shots and with a run of their own led by one at the half, 31-30.
Cannon would start the third quarter strong. After giving up the first two points of the quarter, the Lionettes would take back control and lead by 12 at the end of the period 55-43.
The Lionettes would finish it out and take the win 74-62 to go to 3-6 overall and earn their first district win of the season.
The Lionettes shot a more respectable 24-49 from the field and 1-5 from behind the 3-point line and a nice 25-31 from the free throw line in the win.
This was a solid win for the Lionettes. Four players scored in double figures led by Maleah Scott's 22 points, Kristen Fann added 14 and Anna Grace Sissom along with Tori Knox poured in 12 each. Others getting in the scoring column included: Jessie Kauffman-8, Madison Gaither-2 and Olivia Walkup-4.
