Red Bay girls top Phil Cambpell

J.R. Tidwell/FCT Hannah Sharp (34) of Red Bay brings the ball up the court while defended by Whitley Yocom (11) of PCHS.

Only two teams have beaten the Red Bay Lady Tigers varsity basketball team this season. The Phil Campbell Lady Bobcats were unable to put another numbers in the loss column for Red Bay, as the Lady Tigers defeated Phil Campbell 47-38 Friday night.

The Lady Bobcats may not have won, but losing to Red Bay’s girls close has been as tough as beating them this year.

“Our mentality was don’t look at the scoreboard and keep chipping away,” Phil Campbell head coach Darit Riddle said. “It stinks to lose, but I was proud of the girls tonight.”

Red Bay came out in a full-court press against Phil Campbell, and both teams traded lay-ups and free throws early on. The Lady Tigers pulled ahead 14-9 by the end of the first quarter by pulling down defensive rebounds.

The Lady Bobcats pulled within two points just two minutes into the second, but the Lady Tigers went on a 8-0 run over the next two minutes, giving them a 24-14 advantage midway through the second.

Red Bay finished off the half by draining some three-pointers, giving them a 32-16 lead at the break.

Phil Campbell outscored Red Bay 11-9 in the third, starting a small comeback. The Lady Bobcats didn’t give up a single point in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, allowing them to pull within 12 points of the Lady Tigers.

“We didn’t play very well,” Red Bay head coach Donnie Roberts said. “We were out rebounded, we didn’t do a good job blocking out and we had too many turnovers.”

Phil Campbell got within nine points with 1:13 remaining in the game, but Red Bay held them off at that point, giving the Lady Tigers an uncharacteristically close win.

“We are playing our best basketball of the season right now,” Riddle said.

“We didn’t play our best, but we have a good team and we were still able to win,” Roberts said.