After dropping their first two games at the Murray Bank Tip-Off Classic, the Hopkinsville Lady Tigers got back on track with a 69-61 victory over Paducah Tilghman on Saturday night. Hoptown had struggled to put points on the board in losses to Dresden, TN and hosts Calloway County, but erupted for 20 in the first quarter on the way to a 69-61 result over the Blue Tornado.
With the score tied at 6-6 early in the first, Shaterrea Bellamy scored on back-to-back layups followed by two free throws from Lakayla Samuel for a 12-6 Hoptown advantage. Donisha Flowers scored the last of her 7 first-quarter points and an and-1 with seconds left and the Lady Tigers led 20-10 after one.
The Blue Tornado roared back in the second behind 7 points from Diamond Gray and 6 from Jaaliyah Biggers to tie the game at 25-25, before closing on an 8-5 run to take a 3-point edge into halftime.
The teams battled back-and-forth in the third, with both taking leads before the Blue Tornado went on a 6-0 spurt to tie it at 43-43 with 2:18 left in the quarter. After a Jakayla Epps layup, Flowers scored 6-straight ending with a layup at the buzzer to put the Lady Tigers in control 51-43.
Tilghman’s Gray knocked down a 3-pointer followed by an and-1 to trim the margin to 3 with 3:44 to play, but Flowers scored 6 points down the stretch to seal the victory for the Lady Tigers.
Hopkinsville 20 10 21 18–69
Tilghman 10 23 10 18–61
Hopkinsville (5-6) Flowers 25, Bellamy 15, Samuel 11, Hinton 8
Tilghman (4-6) Biggers 20, Gray 19
