The Caldwell County girls’ basketball team’s recent slide continued on Thursday night, as they fell 54-45 at Dawson Springs. The loss is the Lady Tigers’ first against the Lady Panthers since a 2nd Region All “A” setback on January 17, 2011, 16 games in total. Caldwell drops its fifth straight to slip to 11-11, 2 -4 in the 7th District. Dawson Springs wins its third straight to move to 8-16, picking up its first district win of the year.
After sophomore guard Lucy Goffinet hit one of two free throws, the Lady Tigers took a 3-0 lead two minutes into the game. However, the Lady Panthers ran off 8 straight points to take an 8-3 lead, and would never trail again. Freshman forward Majah Hollowell knocked down a jumper to cut the lead to 3 at 8-5, but Dawson Springs scored the last 4 of the first quarter, taking a 12-5 lead.
Freshman guard Jacey Jaggers and sophomore forward Bella McConnell scored on either side of a Lady Panther basket, and Dawson Springs called a timeout leading 17-10 with 4:21 left in the half. With :58 to play, Dawson Springs hit one of two free throws, and rebounded the miss and scored to take its first double-digit lead at 22-11. Caldwell closed the half with 4 in a row, capped by a Goffinet layup off an assist from Jaggers, and the Lady Panthers went into the break leading 22-15.
Goffinet led the Lady Tigers with 5, followed by McConnell with 4, and Jaggers with 3. For the Lady Panthers, junior center Erin Orten scored 5, with senior guard Brooklyn Cotton, junior forward Kaylee Simpson, and sophomore guard Denisha Randolph scoring 4 each.
Jaggers and sophomore guard Jada Boyd scored on back to back possessions to cut the Dawson Springs lead to 2 at 26-24 with 4:50 left in the fourth quarter. The Lady Tigers would get to within a single point on three occasions in the third, the last coming at 31-30 after a Goffinet layup with just under a minute to go. Caldwell forced a turnover and had the ball with a chance to take the lead, but turned it back over and the Lady Panthers scored the final basket of the quarter, leading 33-30.
Boyd drove and scored in traffic, and Caldwell called a timeout at 37-36 with 5:34 to play. McConnell pulled down a rebound and scored, trimming the Lady Panthers lead to 4 with 2:22 on the clock, but Dawson Springs went on a 6-0 run over the next minute, with three Lady Tigers fouling out, to put the game out of reach at 50-40 inside the final minute. Jaggers hit a three, part of her 11 second-half points, and Boyd put in a layup, but the Lady Panthers were solid at the free throw line to close out the win. Cotton was particularly clutch, pouring in 14 in the fourth quarter, including 9-9 from the line.
Jaggers finished with 14 to lead the Lady Tigers, followed by Boyd with 10, including 9 in the second half and 6 in the final quarter. McConnell scored 8, Goffinet had 7, with Hollowell and freshmen forwards Karsyn Parker and Morgan McDaniels adding 2 each. Cotton led the Lady Panthers with 19, 16 in the second half, followed by Orten with 11, and Simpson with 10.
Caldwell County returns to the court on Friday, hosting the Trigg County Lady Wildcats (7-14). The Lady Tigers beat Trigg 49-26 on January 23rd.