Tigerettes survive late Lady Saint miss

WATERTOWN — Christine Humes had the shot David Kitchen wanted.
But Humes' runner bounced off the glass and Watertown breathed a collective sigh of relief Tuesday night as the Tigerettes escaped Mt. Juliet Christian's upset bid 25-24 in the opening round of the District 8-A tournament.
"That's all I could ask of those girls, just put us in a position to win at the end," Kitchen said after his season as the Lady Saints' interim coach ended with a 15-14 record, the program's first winning campaign. "We set out for Christine to get the ball. She had a good look at it and that's all we can ask for."
Watertown asked for a miss and received it, sending the Tigerettes to Friday's 6:30 p.m. semifinal against top-seed Westmoreland at Gordonsville. The Tigerettes, who improved to 14-12, also clinched a berth in next week's Region 4-A tournament.
"They got a good shot," Watertown coach Jeff Luttrell said. "I knew it would be close coming in. We caused them some problems, they caused us some problems. Again, he had a good game plan.
"The key was we got out to a good start. That kind of set the tone. I told the kids we'd have to play defense to win. They had it with 57 seconds left before they got a shot. It wasn't a layup and it wasn't a wide-open look, so we had them guarded. That's a chance you take in the tournament."
Watertown scored the game's first seven points and led 9-2 as center Miaushia Thompson scored all but two of her Tigerette-leading eight points. But Humes, who tallied a game-high 16 points and passed for four assists, scored twice to help bring the Lady Saints within 9-6 at the first-quarter break.
Laura Clark came off the Watertown bench to drop in a pair of three-pointers to widen the lead back to 15-9 before Mt. Juliet Christian climbed back. It was close the rest of the way.
"We weren't playing smart mentally," Kitchen said of the Lady Saints' slow start. "We spotted them some points. But an outstanding job. I have to give credit to Watertown's girls, they did a great job fighting through everything.
"We threw a lot of junk defenses at them. We threw five different defenses at them to try to switch it up and they definitely fought through them."
A runner off the glass by Cali Beard brought the Lady Saints within 15-14 in the second quarter and Mt. Juliet Christian had several chances to tie or take the lead the rest of the night.
But it took Humes' pullup jumper off the glass less than three minutes into the second half to lift the Lady Saints to an 18-17 edge.
That lead lasted one score, though it took Watertown over three minutes to counter when Sarah Reeder threw in a three-pointer from the wing with less than two minutes left in the third quarter to put the Tigerettes back in front 20-18.
Clark and Reeder each racked up a pair of threes for six apiece while Brittnee Sells scored five.
Kristen Tewmey came off Mt. Juliet Christian's bench to take down 10 rebounds as she, Beard and sisters Paige and Ashley Hudson each had a pair of points.

Friendship's fourth-quarter lead vanishes
Everything went Friendship Christian's way for three quarters Tuesday night as the Lady Commanders looked to avenge last year's District 8-A tournament first-round come-from-ahead loss to Trousdale County at the Sportsplex.
But history repeated itself in the fourth quarter as the No. 6-seed Lady Jackets swarmed from behind to sting Friendship with a 60-51 season-ending loss.
The Lady Commanders led 44-35 through three periods before the Lady Jackets used a 25-7 fourth quarter to buzz into the semifinals.
"The first half and even the third quarter, things went our way," Friendship coach Deanna Teeter said after her Lady Commanders completed a 13-13 season. "It seemed like every break went to them. We dug a hole we couldn't get out of. We missed several layups in the fourth quarter. Shots that had been going in didn't go."
Chelsea Brown tossed in 22 points to send Trousdale to Friday's 8 p.m. semifinal at Gordonsville and to next week's Region 4-1A tournament.
The Lady Commanders led 13-6 following the first quarter and 30-21 at halftime.
Carly Warmath tossed in two three-pointers on her way to 21 for Friendship while Lindsay Farmer finished with nine. Katy Vaughan, struggling with the flu, added eight while seniors Gabbie Lowe and Jessi Couch scored six and five points, respectively. Eighth-grader Laurel Burroughs tossed in two.
"I hate the way it ended tonight because I didn't think we should have lost," Teeter said. "The girls worked hard and overachieved in a lot of ways. They improved a lot in the last couple of years."
Sports Editor Andy Reed can be reached at 444-3952 ext. 17 or by e-mail at andy.reed@lebanondemocrat.com.