Lady Tigers Take Care of Business in Tourney Opener

Top seed SCR-I handled the Highland Jayvee 66-15 in the opener of the North Shelby Tournament.

Scotland County did exactly what it had to Tuesday night in the opening round of the North Shelby Tournament. The Lady Tigers, the #1 seed, faced off against the #8 seed Highland junior varsity and simply took care of business, posting a 66-15 win to advance to the semifinals.

The Lady Tigers blitzed Highland early, rushing out to a 12-0 lead forcing a quick timeout by the Lady Cougars.

Micah Cooley was too much to handle for Highland. The senior had six points in the fast start.  Alayna Whitaker came off the bench and continued Scotland County’s dominance in the paint. The sophomore center scored on a pair of offensive rebounds to put Scotland County up 18-2 after one period of play.

Emiley Dial and Katie Feeney each had a pair of scores as Scotland County continued to pull away early in the second period. Cooley continued her strong performance, scoring seven points in the second period despite limited minutes as Coach Cory Shultz rotated in all 10 players much of the first half.

Morgan Blessing hit the Lady Tigers only three-pointer of the first half just before the buzzer, producing a 40-5 halftime advantage.

Scotland County had another strong showing in the third period, posting a 20-2 advantage behind its trademark defense, which forced 27 Highland turnovers on the night. Kylee Stott led the attack, producing 10 steals on the defensive end.

That set up a running clock in the fourth quarter as Scotland County cruised to the 66-15 win.

Cooley led the way scoring 17 points on a very efficient eight of nine shooting. Katie Feeney added 12 points  and also grabbed five rebounds. Abbey Curry finished with six points and a team-high nine rebounds and also had four steals in a well-round game for the sophomore forward.

Scotland County improved to 10-3 on the year and advanced to take on South Shelby in the semifinals.