Lady Trojans top Daniel Boone to advance to the state semifinals

 

Jason Peevyhouse

Editor, JP Productions Sports

Daniel Boone’s girls scored early, but Dyersburg scored often as the Lady Trojans recovered from an early six-point lead by the Lady Blaze to outscore their opponents 24-4 over the rest of the half on the way to a 46-34 win in the TSSAA Class 3A Quarterfinals in Murfreesboro on Wednesday afternoon.

Daniel Boone jumped out to a 6-0 lead to open the game but Dyersburg got a bucket and a free throw by Kaliyah Lewis to cut the lead to one before a Lewis bucket with under two minutes left in the quarter put the Lady Trojans on top 7-6. Kay Kay Strayhorn added a three-pointer with 38 seconds left to push the run to 10-0 and give Dyersburg a four-point lead. Daniel Boone added a late bucket to end the run and cut the Lady Trojan lead to 10-8 after one quarter.

The Lady Trojans added to their lead during the second quarter. A Chelby Jordan jumper got things going. After a pair of Daniel Boone free throws, three-pointers by Strayhorn and Kathleen Harrell surrounded a bucket by Jordan to push the Dyersburg lead to double-digits. The Lady Trojans tacked on buckets from Lewis and Jordan to take a 24-10 lead heading into the locker room at the half.

All totaled in the first half, Dyersburg ended the half with a 12-0 run while holding Class 3A Miss Basketball Andrea Flores to zero points during the first 16 minutes of the game.

Daniel Boone finally broke its dry spell from the field early in the second half with a bucket before a foul sent Strayhorn to the free throw line where she hit both to extend Dyersburg’s lead back to 14 points. Jordan tacked on a putback to extend the Lady Trojan lead to its largest of the night at 16 points then got a three-point play to push the black and gold lead to 31-12 with 4:41 left in the third quarter. A Strayhorn free throw and two more by Jordan pushed the Dyersburg lead to 22 points before a 7-0 run by the Lady Blaze cut the black and gold’s lead to 34-19. Liz Lemons added a free throw to end the spree late before a late bucket by Aaliyah Story cut further into the Dyersburg lead, trimming the Lady Trojan advantage to 34-21 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Blaze were able to cut it to 12 before a Jordan bucket was followed by an Aerie Quinn layup pushed it back to 14 points with about six minutes left. Dyersburg’s lead swelled to 41-25 before a pair of free throws from Flores ended the Lady Trojan host spell. K’laya Currie added a bucket to get Dyersburg back on the board but Daniel Boone answered quickly with a bucket from Laney Britton to cut the black and gold lead to 43-29 with just under three minutes left.

Daniel Boone kept it interesting, capitalizing on Dyersburg free throws to cut it to 43-31 with about two and a half minutes left. The Lady Trojans forced Daniel Boone to foul and was able to run the clock before a foul sent Quinn to the line where she hit two to put Dyersburg on top by 14. On the ensuing Daniel Boone possession, Jordan snagged an errant pass and was fouled, hitting one of two free throws as the final minute approached. Piper Ball added a three-pointer for the Lady Blaze with 1:02 left in the game.  From there, the Lady Trojans needed just one more stop before running out the clock on their 12-point win over Daniel Boone.

Miss Basketball Finalist Chelby Jordan led Dyersburg with 18 points and 12 rebounds while Lewis added nine in the win.

Dyersburg returns to action on Friday at 12:45 p.m. when the Lady Trojans take on the winner of the second quarterfinal game between Alcoa and Tullahoma in Murfreesboro.

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