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Shannon's Daliyah Babbitt celebrates with her teammate Shae Patterson after their team defeated Nettleton to claim the Lee County Tournament title Friday night. (Alex Gilbert)
He also had to appreciate the gold trophy the team picked up.
In championship action at the Lee County Tournament, the Troopers maintained their patience down the stretch, claiming a 61-55 victory over the Shannon Red Raiders.
“I think it was the 1980’s the last time Mooreville won the county title,” Tally said. “It feels good because the boys played hard.”
Mooreville (17-3) needed more than its share of effort against a stubborn Shannon (14-5) squad. The Troopers entered the fourth quarter clinging to a 41-39 lead.
Down the stretch
With 2 minutes, 59 seconds to play, Shannon tied the score at 51-51 on a Jalen Thomas shot from the key. But Mooreville’s offense was controlled effectively in the fourth quarter by Brandon Moore, and the senior guard responded with a basket with 1:58 left to push the Troopers to a two-point margin.
Kelsey Scott added a driving layup with 1:36 left to give Mooreville a bit of a margin, and free throws by Scott and Austin Timms in the final 32 seconds helped to clinch the victory.
Timms paced Mooreville with 23 points, while Lakee Westbrook scored 14 to lead Shannon.
(G) Shannon 51, Nettleton 50: In a back and forth second half, the final second of the girls championship contest had its share of drama.
With the score 50-49 in favor of Shannon (10-3), Nettleton junior Kendall King was at the line to shoot free throws with 0:00.7 seconds to play. King hit the first, but a technical was called on the Nettleton bench.
The second attempt was missed, then Shannon’s Tatyanna Brownlee had two shots to win. The first was a miss, but Brownlee hit the second.
Alexandrea Metcalf led Shannon with 13, while Jabria Pounds hit 16 for Nettleton.