February 15, 2023
By: Dwayne Page
Third times a charm?
Not so for the DeKalb County Lady Tigers as they were defeated on the evening of Valentine’s Day by the White County Warriorettes 87 to 62 at Sparta and thus eliminated from the District Basketball Tournament ending the season for them and first year coach Brandy Alley at 14-15.
It was the third meeting of the season between the teams and the third loss for the Lady Tigers. White County won in Smithville 92 to 44 on December 13 and at Sparta 72 to 51 on January 24.
The Warriorettes (22-9) advance to the semi-finals of the tournament to play the top seed Livingston Academy (23-5) on Saturday at Tennessee Tech in Cookeville at 8:30 p.m.
In the game Tuesday night, DeKalb County trailed 24 to 19 after the 1st period, 47 to 30 at halftime, and 61 to 49 after the 3rd period before losing the game 87 to 62.
Ella VanVranken scored 25, Avery Agee 11, Chloe VanVranken 9, Cam Branin 6, Madison Martin 5, Ella Hendrixson 4, and Darrah Ramsey 2.
In other district tournament games Tuesday night, the Cumberland County girls eliminated Stone Memorial 45 to 34 while the Upperman girls defeated Macon County 67 to 44. On Saturday, Cumberland County will meet Upperman in the district tournament semi-finals at Tennessee Tech at 7 p.m.
The Tigers will play their first game of the tournament on Thursday night, February 16 starting at 6 p.m. also at Sparta facing the White County Warriors. WJLE will have LIVE coverage. Like the girls, DC is the 5th place team and White County 4th. The winner will meet Stone Memorial, the #1 seed, on Saturday, February 18 at 4:30 p.m. at Stone Memorial.
Meanwhile the Upperman Bees (3rd seed) will face Cumberland County (6th seed) on Thursday in Baxter at 6 p.m. while Livingston Academy (2nd seed) will meet Macon County (7th seed) at Livingston on Thursday at 7 p.m. The winners will square off in the semi-finals at 3 p.m. on Saturday at Stone Memorial.