Martin’s Slam Dunk Caps Easy Cannon Win

Two undefeated high school girls basketball teams that loved to shoot the three got together Friday night in a duel that would be a key game early in the District 8-AA standings.  Before a packed house in Murfreesboro, the crowd was treated to a marquee matchup to begin the evening between the Cannon County Lionettes and the Central Magnet Lady Tigers.  The Lady Tigers would jump out to a 7 point cushion at the end of the first period but no lead was safe.  The Lionettes were able to keep post player Ola Obi out of the first half as they held her scoreless, however the perimeter lit up the three point shot in a low scoring first half as Central Magnet had a halftime lead of 17-15.  In the second half Obi collected all 15 of her points in the paint while Claudia Smith hit some key threes in a third quarter stretch.  The Lady Tigers got out to their biggest lead of 9 before Kendra Maynard hit a wide open shot to cut it to 6 with 20 seconds left.  That’s as close as the Lionettes would get as Central Magnet protected their home floor with a 52-46 win.  Maynard led the Lionettes with 15 points while Erin McReynolds netted 14 in the loss.  Central goes to 12-0 on the year and they are out to a 2-0 start in District 8-AA play.  Cannon suffers their first loss to go 6-1 and 0-1 in district play. In other District 8-AA scores Upperman 71 Dekalb 53. Livingston  72 Macon County 38. Smith County 55 York Institute 29.
It was a slam dunk of a win.  Even though Austin Martin didn’t get the start, the post player came into the game and provided steady rebounding, blocked several shots and before the night was done finished with an exclamation two handed slam that sent the Cannon County crowd into a standing ovation when he was taken out of the ball game with a couple minutes left to go.  Cannon was never threatened in their game against Central Magnet.  Once the Lions got going it turned into a game of transition fastbreak basketball.  Josh Ruehlan finished with a game high 21 points and proved that if calmed down, he can be a major threat just by himself.  AJ Daniel was aggressive on defense which enabled him to get several takeaways which he turned into points.  Cannon coasted to a 59-37 win over Central.  Jacob Nave also scored in double figures with 10 points.  The Lions are now 5-2 on the year.  Other scores in District 8-AA.  Upperman sent Dekalb their first loss with a 69-56 win, while Macon County took a close 74-71 victory over Livingston.
Saturday night the two ball teams will be back in Woodbury as they host the Coffee County Red Raiders and Lady Red Raiders for a 6:00 tipoff.  Cannon swept the Raiders in Manchester last month.  WBRY will have the live broadcast at 5:50 for Coaches Corner on AM-1540/FM96.7, streaming online at wbry.com and through WBRY on your smartphones and tablets using the Tune In Radio App.