Tharptown’s Kamri Sears goes in for a layup in the varsity girls’ game against Phil Campbell on Friday. Photo by Bart Moss.

By Bart Moss

For the FCT

In varsity girls action Friday night, the Tharptown Lady Wildcats defeated the Phil Campbell Lady Bobcats by a score of 50-40.

Tharptown jumped out to a 12-5 first quarter lead on the sharp shooting skills of Kaitlyn Vandiver.

The Bobcats responded with a strong second quarter outscoring the Wildcats 15-14. Vandiver led all scorers at the half with 14 points. The Bobcats were led by Taylor Pace’s eight points. More critical, however, were the four fouls she picked up in the first half.

With Pace sidelined for much of the third quarter, the Wildcats took advantage of the situation. Wildcat senior Kamri Sears exploded with 14 second-half points.

The Wildcats outscored the Bobcats 10-2 in the third quarter to take a 36-22 lead into the final period of play.

The Bobcats battled back on the hustle of Madison Hardy who led all Bobcat scorers with 12 points. The 18-point fourth quarter was not enough though, as the Wildcats hung on for the 50-40 win.

“I’m glad we came away with the win tonight,” Tharptown coach Chad Green said.

“We still have a lot of room for improvement though. We looked shaky at times tonight. I’m proud of the way our girls fought and played defense.”

Sears led all scorers with 22 points. Rounding out the scoring for Tharptown was Vandiver with 16, Brooke Daniel with five points, Haley Malone with four points, Kathy Alfaro with two points, and Savannah Hamilton with one point.

Hardy led the Bobcats with 12 points. Others scoring were: Taylor Pace with nine points, Elizabeth Hardy with eight points, Tori Pace with six points, Reagan Breeze with three points, and Kaylie Ayers with two points.