South Gallia ends Tomcats’ season in Lucasville
By: Brody Montgomery
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LUCASVILLE, Ohio (WOUB) — Following a 58-40 win against Manchester in the first round, the Trimble Tomcats traveled to Valley High School in Lucasville for the districts Semi-finals. The fifth seeded Tomcats would take on the fourth seeded South Gallia Rebels; the Rebels would pull out the win, 56-44.
South Gallia would start off with back-to-back buckets from number three Ryleigh Shafer to take a 4-0 lead early. The Tomcats would take some to get rolling offensively, but in the meantime, were able to hold the Rebels on defense. By the end of the first, Trimble was able to score the majority of their points from the free throw line and would be down 12-10.
As the second quarter got underway, Laken Smathers would nail a three-pointer to give the Tomcats their first lead of the night. That three-pointer would be answered with a Rebel triple by Sharla Hammond; that score would be the start of a South Gallia scoring run.
By the final two minutes of the half, the Rebels’10-point run would give them a nine-point lead until the Tomcats would respond with a McKenzie Eing coast-to-coast bucket. Trimble would cut the rebel lead to just five points by halftime, down 24-19.
As the third got underway, the Rebels would start to shine, forcing several Tomcat turnovers and answering with scores. Shafer would continue to cause Trimble problems, scoring nine points in the quarter. By the end of the third, the Tomcats would find themselves in a hole down 38-27.
The Rebel lead would prove to be too much for Trimble to comeback from in the fourth quarter. Despite a Tomcat effort late in the game, South Gallia was able to control the rest of the quarter and cruise to a 56-44 win.
This would be the final game for the Trimble girls as their postseason run comes to an end; the Tomcats would finish the year with a 14-10 record.
As for the Rebels, they advance to the district final to play Eastern on Feb. 28 at Valley.