High school basketball: Dalton, North Murray girls advance to semis of Mistletoe Madness tourney; Murray falls to Calhoun in heartbreaker

Daniel Mayes, The Daily Citizen, Dalton, Ga.
·4 min read

Dec. 21—CHATSWORTH — Several local high school basketball teams competed Monday in the annual Mistletoe Madness Christmas tournament at North Murray High School. On the girls side, Dalton and North Murray advanced in the single elimination tournament Monday. Murray County, Northwest Whitfield and Southeast Whitfield fell in the first round and are in the consolation bracket today.

Calhoun 52, Murray County 45

In a tight game between two teams with only two losses between them, Murray County went cold at an unfortunate time.

Murray County (8-2) and Calhoun (7-1) were tied at 39 at the end of the third quarter in a slugfest of a game in the first round of the Mistletoe Madness Christmas tournament at North Murray Monday.

The Lady Indians went cold to start the fourth, and Calhoun scored the first six points of the quarter to grab an advantage that it would not relinquish.

Murray cut the score to two points late, then trailed by three after Calhoun hit a free throw.

Ella Dotson had an open look at a potential game-tying 3-pointer with 10 seconds left, but it rolled off the rim, and Calhoun added two late baskets.

Dotson scored 20 points to lead the Lady Indians, while Mattie Nuckolls had 15 points.

Murray County plays McMinn County today at 10 a.m. in the consolation bracket. Calhoun advances to play Dalton in the semifinals today at 2:30 p.m.

Dalton 57, McMinn County 46

Dalton (5-2) built a big lead and withstood a rally from McMinn County (3-4) for a 57-46 win in the first round of the Mistletoe Madness tournament at North Murray.

The Lady Cats sprinted out to a big first half lead and held a 40-18 advantage early in the third quarter.

McMinn raced back with a 14-4 run to cut the advantage to 44-32 by the end of the third, but Dalton again pushed the lead back over 20 before eventually securing the 57-46 victory.

Taylor Thompson led the Lady Catamounts with 11 points and also swiped a few steals to set up some easy buckets. Gracie Ridley had 10 points, Emma Hefner had nine, Jolie Wingfield had eight and Kinsley Skiffen chipped in seven.

Dalton advanced to the semifinal round of the single elimination tournament at 2:30 p.m. today, where they will play Calhoun.

Dalton and Calhoun matched up earlier this season, with Dalton dropping the game 67-48 in its season opener.

North Murray 43, Southeast Whitfield 14

North Murray (3-7) gained control with a second quarter run and downed Southeast Whitfield (0-9) 43-14 Monday in the first round of the Mistletoe Madness Christmas tournament.

North Murray led 13-5 after the first quarter, then scored the first 10 points of the second and outscored Southeast 18-1 in the quarter overall to grab a 31-6 halftime advantage.

The Lady Mountaineers outscored Southeast 12-8 in the second half, but cruised to the easy win.

Ava Robinette led North Murray with nine. Janna Baggett scored seven and knocked down two 3-pointers, while nine different Lady Mountaineers scored. Avery Woodson led Southeast with five points.

North Murray advances to the tournament semifinals today at 5:30 p.m., where the Lady Mountaineers play Ringgold. Southeast plays Northwest Whitfield at 11:30 a.m. in the consolation bracket.

Ringgold 39, Northwest Whitfield 27

Ringgold (9-2) grabbed an early advantage and never gave it up in a 39-27 defeat of Northwest Whitfield (6-4) in the first round of the Mistletoe Madness Christmas tournament on Monday.

Ringgold jumped out to a 7-0 advantage, and, though Northwest rallied and closed within two in the first quarter, the Lady Tigers went on a 9-0 run in the second to grow the lead.

Northwest never let the contest veer into a blowout, but couldn't manage to scrape closer late in the defensive struggle of a game.

Emma Allen led Northwest with 10 points, and Autumn Wiley scored six.

It's the third time already this season that the teams have played, with Ringgold winning all three.

The Lady Bruins play Southeast Whitfield today at 11:30 a.m. in the consolation bracket, while Ringgold advances to play North Murray in the tournament semifinals tonight at 5:30.