CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - The #3 Lady Tigers hosted the #22 Freed-Hardeman University Lady Lions on Saturday. Despite the Lady Lions' efforts to strike back at the Lady Tigers' action on the court, Campbellsville came out victorious 62-58.
The game kicked off with a slow start, with neither team landing any baskets in the first couple of minutes of play. The Lady Tigers were first to score, with Kaitlynn Wilks at the charity stripe, quickly followed by a layup from Courtney Pritchett. The Lady Lions made it to the scoreboard with a three-point bucket halfway through the first quarter. Despite Freed-Hardeman's strong defense, Whitney Hay pushed through in the paint with a fierce layup. The Lady Lions three-point jump shots propelled them upward on the score, stealing the lead. At the end of the first quarter, Campbellsville trailed Freed-Hardeman, 20-15.
Within the first few minutes of the second quarter, Maddy Boyle and Lauren Lee brought the Lady Tigers back to the lead, racking up layup after layup in Campbellsville's favor. Freed-Hardeman was yet to make another successful scoring play since their last at the 9:24 minute mark in the opening second of the quarter. Wilks avidly landed a three-point bucket, increasing the Lady Tigers' advantage over the Lady Lions. With four and a half minutes on the clock, Freed-Hardeman scored for the second time in the quarter, counteracted by Pritchett at the free-throw line. With less than two minutes left on the clock, the Lady Lions got closer to Campbellsville's lead but needed more to make their way up to the advantage. At the end of the first half, the Lady Tigers led the game, 34-29.
At the half, both teams continued to battle for the upper hand statistically, standing on near-identical shooting percentages. However, Freed-Hardeman doubled Campbellsville with 12 assists compared to our six.
Pritchett collected three assists in the first two and a half minutes of the second half, keeping her fellow Lady Tigers scoring and amplifying their lead. Bailey Pedigo landed her first bucket from the three-point line, bringing Campbellsville a 13-point advantage over the Lady Lions. Freed-Hardeman's fouls brought the Lady Tigers to the free-throw line multiple times, expanding Campbellsville's lead. Although the Lady Lions strengthened their offensive play, the Lady Tigers' unrelenting defense was far too strong for them to come close to the lead. Going into the last quarter, Campbellsville remained on the winning end of the scoreboard, 49-43.
The fourth quarter began with high-energy plays from both teams, keeping well-fought interaction over hold on the ball and enthralling maneuvers down the court. Halfway through the last quarter, both teams had collected several buckets back and forth, keeping only a few points between each other. The Lady Tigers and Lady Lions toughened their defenses, racking rebound after rebound, impeding one another from scoring and halting any development on the scoreboard. Freed-Hardeman came close to tying the scoring in the last minute of the game, but Maddie Nalley swiftly blocked their chance. With nine seconds left on the clock and two points standing between the teams, the contest's outcome was left to the hand of the Lady Tigers to deter the Lady Lions from catching up.
At the end of the game, both teams remained very close to each other statistically, with Campbellsville shooting 40.9% from the field, 30% from the three-point line, and 67.6% at the charity stripe, and Freed-Hardeman shooting 39.3%, 36%, and 55.6% respectively. Three Lady Tigers reached double digits during today's game: Boyle and Pritchett with 11 points each and Wilks with 10.
The Lady Tigers will be back in action hosting the Lindsey Wilson College Blue Raiders on Thursday, January 25th, beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET.
