Cedar Bluff's Jessica Brannon looks to go strong to the hoop against Glencoe in the Cherokee County Invitational Tournament on Monday.
It almost happened on Monday night, but Glencoe was able to escape with a 52-49 victory to improve to 12-1 this season.
Cedar Bluff had a chance to force overtime, but Nicole Soignet’s 3-pointer at the buzzer fell short of the mark.
With the win, Glencoe will face Cherokee County (7-6) in the Cherokee Invitational title game Tuesday at 6 p.m. Cherokee County defeated Chattooga, Ga., in other tournament action on Monday, 43-31.
Cedar Bluff (2-6) drops to the consolation bracket, where the Lady Tigers will face Chattooga at 9 a.m. on Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers’ defense came up big against Glencoe. They had 15 steals on the night, but Cedar Bluff also committed 33 turnovers.
“The girls did an outstanding job of pressuring them,” Cedar Bluff coach Joe Carpenter said. “We’re not thrilled with the outcome, but we’re thrilled with the effort.
“Glencoe’s a great program, and Coach (John) Blackwell does a great job with them. To play them that way is really a testament to our girls not backing down. They took it to them. We would have liked to come out with a win, but we didn’t.”
Cedar Bluff had a 7-6 lead in the early going of the game, but Glencoe rebounded to take a 25-17 lead at the half. Cedar Bluff pulled to within a 36-31 deficit after three quarters thanks to Soignet’s 3-pointer to end the third.
Cedar Bluff gave the Lady Jackets all they could handle down the stretch. A pair of free throws by Tanessa Fife tied the game at 44 with 2:10 remaining in the game. The two teams battled back and forth the rest of the way.
Jess Brannon hit a clutch 3-pointer with just over nine seconds to play to trim Glencoe’s lead to 51-49. After Glencoe’s Baileigh Little connected on the back end of a pair of free throws with 6.9 seconds to play, the Lady Jackets went up by a 52-49 margin.
That set the stage for one last attempt by Cedar Bluff, which fell short.
“At that point in the game, it’s basically hit or miss,” Carpenter said. “That’s the way a basketball game goes. You shoot, you hit and you miss. We were just unfortunate not to hit there at the end of the game. We needed another hit, and we just happened to miss that opportunity and time just ran out on us.”
Brannon finished with a game-high 20 points for the Lady Tigers. She also had three steals. Audrey Hargitt had six points and seven rebounds. Soignet and Hannah Leach also had six points apiece.
Tanessa Fife finished with five points, seven boards and three steals. Mechelle Adams also scored five points and recorded four steals.
Glencoe was led by Little’s 15 points. Chelsi Matthews netted 14 points and Megan Clark came away with seven points.
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