Every team has their house of horrors – aka an athletic venue they have difficulty winning at. For many years, Tennessee’s Stokely Athletic Center was the house of horrors for the Kentucky basketball team. For UCLA, it was the Joyce Center at Notre Dame. And for Trigg County’s girls’ basketball team, it’s the gym at Caldwell County.
The Lady Wildcats fell behind early, never recovered, and lost 60-45 to the Lady Tigers Friday in Princeton. The loss was Trigg’s 29th straight in the building, which opened 30 years ago. Ironically, Trigg County won their first two games there and haven’t won since dating back to 1990.
Trigg went without a field goal to start the game for nearly the first 11 minutes. That allowed Caldwell County to jump out to a 14-2 lead. Trigg went on an 8-2 run to get to within 16-10 with 2:35 left in the half. However, that’s as close as they would get the rest of the game. Caldwell took their lead back out to 12 points at 24-12 by halftime.
Bella McConnell scored the first four points of the second half as Caldwell County extended their lead to 32-17. Jacey Jaggers then hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to push the lead to 38-18 in the third quarter.
Emily Noffsinger scored six of Trigg’s next nine points as the Lady Wildcats cut the 20-point deficit in half.
Trigg trailed 49-39 with 5:18 left when Olivia Noffsinger knocked down a 3-pointer. The final dagger for Trigg was a six-point trip by Caldwell when Jacey Jaggers hit a shot in the lane. A Trigg player thought she traveled and was hit with a technical for expressing that thought in the direction of an official. Jaggers hit both free throws and then followed with a bucket to push the lead back to 16 points with 4:53 left.
Jaggers led all scorers with 17 points. She added six rebounds and four steals. Jada Boyd added 13 points, and Bella McConnell scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds before fouling out.
Adri Phillips scored 13 points for Trigg County, and Emily Noffsinger added 11 points.
After a 3-of-17 start from the field, Trigg County shot 50-percent in the second half but hit just 12-of-26 free throws in the game.
Caldwell County also shot 50-percent in the second half and finished at 44-percent for the game. The Lady Tigers also struggled at the free throw line, connecting on 13-of-31. Caldwell scored 18 points off 23 Trigg turnovers.
Caldwell County (12-13) will host McCracken County Tuesday, while Trigg County (12-15) will host St. Mary Monday.