The Trigg County Lady Wildcats could not overcome a slow third quarter and fell to Mitchell County, Georgia 38-32 Wednesday in the opening game of the Marlin Holiday Classic in Arnold, Florida.
The Lady Wildcats will play Poplar Springs, Florida, a 74-37 loser to Pleasant Grove, Alabama, Thursday afternoon at 4.
Mitchell County was able to take care of the basketball and wasn’t bothered much by Trigg’s press, committing just seven turnovers.
However, the Lady Wildcats got a standout defensive performance from Tajah Grubbs. She drew the assignment of guarding Mitchell County’s Amira Walters-Smith, who came into the game as one of Georgia’s top-ranked sophomores at 24 points and four steals per game. The guard was held to three first half field goals. She hit 9-of-10 free throws to finish with 16 points.
A back-and-forth first half saw Mitchell County hold a slim 19-18 lead at the half. But the Lady Wildcats managed just four points in the third quarter and couldn’t recover.
Olivia Noffsinger led Trigg County with 18 points. Audrey Alexander came off the bench to grab a career-high 15 rebounds.
Mitchell County 9 10 8 11– 38
Trigg County 11 7 4 10– 32
Mitchell County (6-4) – Walters-Smith 16, White 7, Crump 6, Harris 3, Toombs 3, Williams 2, Robinson 1
Trigg County (3-6) – Noffsinger 18, Hyde 7, Grubbs 4, McGee 2, Rogers 1
