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Sports Marshall County Post Febrauary 29, 2024 10A Lady ‘Dawgs come up just short in 10-A championship By CHRIS SIERS csiers@ bedfordcountypost.com C O R N E R S V I L L E — Cornersville coach Hayden McMahon couldn’t have asked for a better e ff ort from his team in Monday night’s Dis- trict 10-A championship against No. 1 seed Rich- land. The Lady ‘Dawgs gave a balanced attack on the o ff ensive end of the court, played a stingy defense, and put themselves in po- sition to win, but in the end, it was Richland’s one- two punch that escaped Cornersville with a 38-36 win. “I feel like our girls left everything out on the fl oor. We just came up a bit short. Super proud of all their e ff orts. We put in a lot of preparation and a lot of other things that go with a good game plan to give us a chance to win. It gave us a shot, but at the end of the day they hit one more bucket than we did,” McMahon said. Richland had just three players score against the Lady ‘Dawgs, but Bai- ley Blair and Shelby Hig- gins combined for 34 or the Lady Raiders’ total 38 points, which was a stark contrast to the balanced approach by Cornersville. “I think overall, it was a team e ff ort than some- body standing out for our girls. Nobody really out- shined anyone,” McMa- hon said. Seven total Lady ‘Daw- gs scored, with Jayli Chil- dress knocking down eight points to lead the hosts. Childress led the charge in the opening frame, scoring six of Cor- nersville’s 11 points, while senior Annabelle Mul- liniks knocked down a timely 3-pointer. Higgins led Richland in the opening frame with a pair of 3-pointers. While o ff ense wasn’t dominant for either team in the fi rst quarter, both o ff enses nearly ground to a complete halt in the sec- ond frame, with the two teams combining for just 11 total points. All six of Richland’s points came on a pair of 3-pointers by Katelyn Bass and Bailey Blair, while Ab- igal Finley added a 3-point of her own for the Lady ‘Dawgs. Anna Wood added a pair of free throws in the second frame as well. Cornersville continued its lock-down defense into the second half as well, holding Richland to just a single fi eld goal in the pe- riod and retaking the lead by the end of the third af- ter scoring seven more. Entering the fourth, Cornersville held a 23-21 lead. Higgins and Blair took over in the fourth and combined for 16 of the Lady Raiders’ total 17 points in the quarter. Cornersville also put forth its best o ff ensive quarter, knocking down 13 points, but just couldn’t get over the hump to gen- erate enough stops to claim the 10-A champion- ship. As a team, Corners- ville connected on four 3-pointers, with Mulliniks connecting on two. The Lady ‘Dawgs were also e ffi cient at the free throw line, making good on 10-of-12 tries, while Richland also shot a high percentage for 10-of-14 at- tempts. Cornersville 11 5 7 13 — 36 Richland 11 6 4 17 — 38 Cornersville: Jayli Childress 8, Anna Wood 7, Annabelle Mulliniks 6, Ady Gentry 6, Camille Franklin 4, Abigail Finley 3, Katie Powers 2. Richland: Bailey Blair 20, Shelby Higgins 14, Katelyn Bass 4. 3-Point goals: Cornersville (4): Mulliniks 2, Wood, Finley; Richland (6): Blair 3, Higgins 2, Bass. Halftime score: Richland 17, Cornersville 16. McCoy, Mealer make state history By CHRIS SIERS csiers@ bedfordcountypost.com F RANKLIN — A pair of Forrest wrestlers made history over the weekend in the TSSAA Class A state wrestling tournament. McCoy set a school record by medaling for the fi fth time in his career at the state tournament with a fi fth-place fi nish in the Class A 144-pound bracket. Mealer also became a medalist after fi nishing fourth in the Girls 165-pound division, after qualifying for the state tournament a year ago. McCoy fi nished a stellar career with the Rockets, once again reaching the podium. Even nursing a lingering injury that would have kept many sidelined and ended a season, McCoy powered through to a strong fi nish to his career. He got o ff to a strong start with a win via pin in his fi rst match and a 4-0 decision in his second match. He took a tough loss in his third match to Braylen Cosper of Soddy Daisy in his third match of the tournament and a second loss put him in the fi fth- place match. In the match for fi fth, McCoy made sure his career would end with a win, needing just 52 seconds to pin Fairview’s Peyton Mitchell. For Mealer, what started as a tough outing in the state tournament quickly became a strong run through her bracket. Warren County’s Mar- ley Harris won the fi rst match against Mealer via pin in just 1:15. Having dropped the opener, Mealer respond- ed with an 8-1 decision and a 6-3 sudden victory against Rossview’s Taelyn Atkinson after recording three points via penalty and takedown. Continuing her march in the consolation brack- et, Mealer served up a dominant 5-0 decision over Clarksville North- west’s Sunshine Ellis. She eventually quali- fi ed for the third-place match by pinning East Ridge’s Samarah Ta fi ti. Although her stellar run got moved her up the podium, Cearyona O’Connor pinned Mealer in the second period of the third-place match, ensuring Mealer’s fourth- place fi nish. Cornersville was also represented in the TSSAA Class A state tournament over the weekend. Joshua Bennett quali fi ed in the 103-pound weight class and Jonathan Zuniga wrestled in the 150-pound bracket. Bennett rebounded after falling in his fi rst match to earn a pin over Gibbs’ Blake Allen in the consolation bracket before his run in the tournament came to a close in the next match. Zuniga also struggled out of the gate, but responded with two- straight wins via decision. He defeated Soddy Daisy’s Colin Bull, 5-4, and followed with a dominant 11-6 win over Sullivan East’s Donavan Smith. His streak came to an end in a thriller of a match, falling to Cohen Oswald of Station Camp in a 12-11 fi nal decision. Earning All-District honors for their efforts in the regular season are (from left) Annabelle Mulliniks, Anna Wood, Jayli Childress and Ady Gentry. In addition to their regular-season honors, Wood and Childress were also named to the All-Tournament team. The Cornersville Lady ‘Dawgs pose with their runner-up plaque following Monday night’s District 10-A championship game against Richland. –Photos Courtesy of Paps Danika Mealer slams her opponent to the mat during her run to a fourth-place finish in the TSSAA state wrestling tournament. –Submitted photos Lady ‘Dawgs’ season ends in OT region thriller By CHRIS SIERS csiers@ bedfordcountypost.com L YNNVILLE — Lady ‘Dawg coach Hayden McMahon wanted his team to leave it all on the fl oor in Monday night’s Region 5-A semi fi nal against Moore County. Did they ever. Cornersville (16-10) fell behind at multiple points, battled back and took a lead late in regulation, but a handful of missed chances and an untimely turnover allowed No. 1 seed Moore County (23-8) to escape in overtime on a buzzer- beater, 45-43. “I told them to leave it all out there. They came back to the locker room and could have been, “what if, what if,” and they didn’t. They left it all out there in an absolute battle,” McMahon said. There was no quit in the Lady Dawgs, who trailed for the majority of regulation. After a brief lead with 4:16 left in the fi rst, Moore County took an 8-7 lead o ff a 3-pointer by Ellie Graham and didn’t trail again until a steal by Jayli Childress and a layup by Abigail Finley put the Lady ‘Dawgs up 37-36 with 2:59 left in regulation. Cornersville stretched its lead to four points o ff a 3-point play by Anna Wood, who hit a layup, drew the foul and hit the ensuing free throw to bump the Lady ‘Dawgs lead to 40-36 with 1:43 left. A layup by Katy Fletcher brought the Raiderettes back within a basket at the 1:27 mark and 30 seconds later, a Cornersville turnover allowed Moore County to tie the game at 40. With time dwindling, Cornersville was eventu- ally awarded possession following a jump ball with just over one second left on the clock. The ball eventually found its way into the hands of Ady Gentry, who fi red a baseline jumper, which missed just short o ff the iron. She corralled her own rebound and attempted a reverse layup that again missed just short as time expired, forcing overtime. In the overtime period, Cornersville took an early lead with Finley again answering the bell on a 3-pointer from the wing to put the Lady ‘Dawgs up 43-40 with 3:24 left on the clock. Graham answered at the 1:51 mark on a 3-pointer to again tie the game at 43. LikeCornersville at the end of regulation, Moore County was awarded possession under its own rim with :00.7 left on the clock and on the in-bound pass, it was Fletcher who caught the pass and scored o ff the block to escape a valiant e ff ort by the Lady ‘Dawgs. Cornersville trailed by as many as eight points against Moore County, but found ways to scrap and claw back into the game every time the Raiderettes appeared to have a comfortable lead. “We got down in a few spurts here and there and we battled back every time,” McMahon said. Graham scored the fi rst 10 points of the game for the Raiderettes, but was held to just six points through the remainder of regulation. For Cornersville, Wood was timely in her shots and led the way with 19 points and three made treys, while Childress buried a pair of 3-pointers. Gentry added 11 as well. Following Monday night’s loss, McMahon had nothing but praise for his senior class, who have helped build a winning culture of Lady ‘’Dawg basketball over the past several seasons. “My four seniors, I’m going to really miss them. They laid the ground work for this program. They gave me, a new coach, a shot from Day 1. I couldn’t be more proud of that group of girls,” McMahon said. Cornersville closes the season with a 16-10 overall record. Cornersville 9 9 12 10 3 — 43 Moore Co. 10 11 10 9 5 — 45 Cornersville: Anna Wood 19, Ady Gentry 11, Jayli Childress 8, Abigail Finley 5. Moore Co.: Ellie Graham 19, Madison Dingler 13, Katy Fletcher 6, Emma Sazonov 4, Anna Harder 3. 3-Point goals: Cornersville (7): Wood 3, Childress 2, Gentry, Finley; Moore Co. (5): Graham 3, Dingler 2. Halftime score: Moore Co. 21, Cornersville 18. Annabelle Mulliniks and the Lady ‘Dawg bench erupts after Anna Wood hits a layup, draws the foul and hits the ensuing free throw to complete the three-point play to give Cornersville a four- point lead with 1:43 left in regulation. Forrest senior Seth McCoy gains the upper hand during one of his matches in the Class A state tournament. He finished fifth in the 150-pound bracket. Anna Wood goes up for two in the fourth quarter. She posted a game-high 19 points in Monday night’s region semifinal against Moore County. –Post Photos by Chris Siers