Turnovers help THS turn back Lady Pioneers

For the Lady Pioneer freshman team, trouble getting the ball upcourt led to major trouble against Tullahoma Monday night.

Thirty-four turnovers, including 13 during the first quarter of play, helped the Lady Wildcats to a 12-2 lead early in Monday?s game, and Warren County?s girls could never recover, falling short at Dalton Gym by an eventual 56-30 margin.

The Lady Pioneers, who play host to Cookeville tonight, gave up nine unanswered points to start Monday?s contest, with many coming as a result of midcourt turnovers. Jasmine Wood erased Warren County?s goose-egg with a bucket two minutes in, but the Lady Pioneers managed just two field goals in the period on seven attempts, and trailed 20-6 heading into the second stanza.

Lea Montgomery knocked down the back end of a pair of free throws to start the second, and Lauren Lytle followed with a basket to trim the gap to 20-9. But Kristina Tucker answered with a 3-pointer for the Lady Wildcats, who out-scored their hosts 12-10 during the quarter to take a 32-16 halftime lead.

The second half saw the Lady Pioneers continue to struggle offensively, hitting just four of their 14 attempts from the floor and turning the ball over 15 times, including 10 giveaways in the fourth quarter. Tullahoma continued to turn those takeaways into points, scoring 13 in the third quarter and 11 more in the fourth, including a 7-0 run in the closing four minutes which put the exclamation point on the victory.

Wood and Kassidy Kominos finished with six points each for WCHS, who dressed just seven players for the game, while Montgomery and Taylor Douglas added five apiece. Tucker?s 16 led Tullahoma, which got 13 more from Katlin Buchanan and eight apiece from Olivia Barlow and Danae Thornburg.

Tip-off for Thursday?s home matchup is scheduled for 6 p.m.