S

On Monday night, the Westwood Lady Rockets lost a heartbreaker in the first round of the DRVC Tournament, falling to the Eagleville Lady Eagles.

The Lady Rockets would race out to the lead in the first quarter, outscoring Eagleville 14-8 on the strength Jerzee Ferrell’s eight first quarter points.

Eagleville would outscore Westwood in the second quarter 7-4, but the Lady Rockets still led at halftime, 18-15.

The Lady Eagles would carry momentum into the third, outscoring Westwood 10-6 in the third quarter to take a 25-24 lead into the fourth.

Westwood stormed back in front in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Eagles would trim the Lady Rocket lead to 32-31 with 35 seconds to go. 

The Lady Rockets would turn it over, and Eagleville took advantage, drawing a foul and hitting both free throws to lead 33-32.

Westwood would turn it over again, forcing the Lady Rockets to foul again, and Eagleville would miss the free throw with three seconds left, but hold on to win.

“It’s been a close game every time we’ve played them,” Coach Shala Ferrell said of Eagleville. “We played defense well in the first half, but in the second half we were out of position a lot and we fouled a lot.”

Scoring for the Lady Rockets were Allison Russ with 13 points, Jerzee Ferrell with 11 points, Zallona Dillard with five points and Maci Jackson with three points.

The Lady Rockets will close out the season on Dec. 18 at Tullahoma West, and with the tough year her team has had, Coach Ferrell has one goal in mind for the final game of the year. 

“I want them to have fun,” she said. “There’s been a lot of pressure on this group of girls this year, with us winning the DRVC Tournament the previous two years. This year was much tougher so I want to see them enjoy their last game of the year without any more added pressure.”