The Tullahoma Lady Wildcats (0-4, 3-11) once again were left with the bitter taste of a narrow loss when they dropped a 45-41 decision to District 8-AAA foe Franklin Co. on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at the THS gymnasium. The loss came on the heels of a 62-36 defeat at the hands of district leader Lawrence Co. on Saturday, Jan. 9. Visit District8aaa.com for scores, standings, and individual leaders.

Tullahoma will continue a stretch that finds it playing six out of seven games at home when it hosts Lincoln Co. on Friday, Jan. 15 in another district contest. The Lady 'Cats will step outside the district with a trip to Warren Co. on Saturday, Jan. 16, before returning home to host Grundy Co. on Tuesday, Jan. 19, with the girls scheduled to tipoff at 6:30pm.

Tullahoma jumped out to a fast start against the visiting Rebelettes (1-2, 6-8) behind two three pointers from senior Kristina Tucker. The Lady 'Cats led 10-7 after the first quarter and 19-17 at the intermission.

Franklin Co. scored the first four points of the third stanza before Tucker hit another three pointer, as did Danae Thronburg, to help the home team keep its lead and head into the final quarter ahead 28-26.

However, the Rebelettes found their inside game in the final eight minutes behind Shanice Burnette, who led the visitors with 14 points overall. The lead went back and forth in the final quarter with multiple ties. Finally, after Tullahoma's Olivia Barlow hit two free throws to pull THS within two 43-41 with 19.5 seconds left, Franklin Co. was able to secure the win with a final basket.

Thornburg and Tucker led a balanced scoring attack for Tullahoma with nine points each, while Natalie Rayfield had eight, Barlow added seven, and Cam Davis and Mylesha Edwards scored four points each.

Tullahoma had a surprisingly fast start on Saturday night against Lawrence Co., which leads the district with a 4-0 mark and is 16-2 overall. THS jumped out in front 6-2 as Tucker again hit two early three-point shots. The final tie was 12-12 with 90 second left in the first quarter, with the visitors leading 17-15 after eight minutes.

Lawrence Co. extended its lead to 34-25 at the half, despite 12 points by Thornburg, then blew the home Lady Wildcats out of the water by outscoring them 12-4 in the third quarter and 16-7 in the fourth.

Thornburg led Tullahoma with 16 points, followed by Tucker with six, Davis with five, Barlow and Julia Jernigan with four each, and Sarah Washington with one point. Jordyn Luffman led Lawrence Co. with 15 points while Megan Moore and Aryanna Gilbert added 13 each.