Red Bay’s Darby Madden shoots over a Phil Campbell defender in an area matchup Jan. 9. Madden and the Lady Tigers pulled out a 58-45 win over the Lady Bobcats.

by Keith Ledbetter for the FCT

Red Bay’s Lady Tigers secured the top spot in the area after a win over Sulligent last Monday and 58-45 defeat of Phil Campbell last Friday.

“Phil Campbell put up a a pretty good fight,” said Lady Tiger head coach Donnie Roberts about his game last Friday..

“We didn’t play exceptionally well and we had a lot of turnovers.

“I wasn’t pleased with the way we played, but the main thing was we got a win in our area.

“We’ve still got some work to do,” Roberts added.

After getting off to an 11 point lead against the Lady Bobcats, the Red Bay Lady Tigers were outscored 16-12 in the second, allowing Phil Campbell to pull to within seven points at the end of two.

Red Bay held on to a 44-38 lead at the end of the third quarter,  but went up nine on foul shots by Madden and Kennedy in the early minutes of the fourth.

Phil Campbell’s Taylor Pace cut it back to six after completing a three point play following a layup to leave Phil Campbell trailing by a score of 49-43.

After a Kennedy completed foul shot, the Bobcats’ Davis sunk a two pointer to make it a five point ball game with just under three minutes remaining in the game.

The Lady Bobcats were forced to foul in an attempt to regain possession in the ensuing minutes, but couldn’t add to their final 45 points scored.

Red Bay connected on eight from the free throw line in the remaining minutes.

Pace led Phil Campbell with 19, Davis scored 11, Elliott had eight, Harris added four and Baker scored three.

Red Bay had three starters in double digits. Kennedy led with 21, Madden scored 20, Cook had 10.

Burks added four, and Pierce scored three for Red Bay.

The opening game of the Franklin County Varsity Girls tournament will be on Tuesday, Jan. 13, at 6:30pm. All games will be hosted by Red Bay.

Tharptown (#4 seed) will play Vina (#5 seed).  The winner of that game will advance to play top-seed Phil Campbell on Thursday, Jan. 15, at 6:30 pm.

Red Bay (#2 seed) will play Belgreen (#3 seed) on Friday, Jan. 16, at 6:30pm.  The finals of the Varsity Girls division will be Saturday, Jan. 17, at 6:30pm.