Sara Reid — Special to the Weakley County Pres
Posted: Thursday, November 12, 2009 5:02 pm

Cut off — Dresden's Kailey Martin (right) finds Lady Panther Kaley Leyhue in her path during basketball action Monday night. Martin Middle School took control in the fourth quarter on the way to the 33-27 victory over the host. Photo by Sara Reid

The Martin Middle School Panthers traveled to Dresden this past Monday night and put an end to the Lions’ undefeated start to the season, 38-24.
Martin made it a road sweep over the county rival by holding off a Lady Lion rally at the end of a see-saw battle for a 33-27 win in the early game.
In the boys game, Tyquis Johnson knocked down a corner three to get the scoring going for Martin. Austin Daniel knocked down one of two from the line to cut the MMS lead to two, but a jumpshot from Beau Kelly and a layup from Ty Brown increased the Panther lead, 7-1. With just under a minute remaining, Daniel knocked down another free throw, but Martin led 7-2 at the end of one.
Daniel continued to be Dresden’s only scorer as he put up the first Lion field goal of the game at the 4:10 mark in the second. He scored again on an offensive board and putback and had all of Dresden’s points through 2:05 until Joey Caldwell added a free throw to the Lion total. Houston Haag scored six points and the Panther lead increased to 10 — 17-7 — at the halftime break.
In the third quarter, Martin grew its lead to 21-7, but Dresden found the range and reeled off a 6-0 run behind baskets from Brock Dilday, Kaleb Houston and Daniel and three points from Caldwell. Haag hit a three at the buzzer, however, to give the Panthers a 28-18 lead after three.
Daniel and Dilday had three each for Dresden in the fourth, but the Lions never got closer than eight points as the Panthers raced to a 38-24 win.
Haag led the visitors with 11 points. Daniel matched him for game-high scoring honors with 11 for Dresden.
In the earlier game, both teams experienced scoring runs, but the Lady Panthers held Dresden to single-digit scoring totals in all four quarters and took a 33-27 victory.
Each team opened with a turnover, but Amy McAlpin knocked down two from the line to start the scoring for Dresden. Alexis Taylor tied the score with a short jumpshot, but McAlpin answered with two more free throws. Kaley Leyhue and Tamara Nettles scored four straight points for Martin to put the Lady Panthers ahead 7-4. Asa Woodward broke the MMS mini run with a jumpshot, but the Lady Panthers finished strong and led 13-8 after one.
Dresden started the second quarter on a scoring tear. McAlpin and Aubrey Riggs scored the first four points and Abigail Lockhart knocked down one of two from the line to tie the score at 15. Taylor and Tiffany Rechis paced Martin with a basket each and the Lady Panthers led by a deuce — 17-15 — at the halftime intermission.
McAlpin opened the third with a basket to tie the score and Lockhart hit two from the stripe to put Dresden up 19-17. McAlpin and Lockhart each scored again contributing to an 8-0 run that put the Lady Lions in front 23-17.
Rechis and Nettles took the Lady Panthers through a 6-0 run of their own to end the third, however, and both squads entered the final quarter deadlocked at 23.
The tide turned squarely in favor of the visitors, though, and the Lady Lions got two free throws each from McAlpin and Kailey Martin while the Lady Panthers put up 10 points and escaped with a 33-27 win.
Rechis was high scorer for Martin with 12 points. McAlpin had 16 for Dresden.