The last time the Cannon County Lionettes played in Smithville, they were staring down at the scoreboard behind to the Dekalb County Lady Tigers. Cannon eventually came back and won the game. Last night however, Cannon applied the pressure early and vaulted out to a 17 to 1 first quarter score. The Lionettes would continue to dominate defensively as the Lady Tigers would score their first field goal in the game with 5:11 remaining before halftime. Abbey Sissom rang up a game high 28 points as the Lionettes improved their record to 22-6 over all with a 56-37 win over Dekalb County and is tied for third place in the district with York when York lost last night to Livingston. Both teams enter their respective Friday games with 6-5 district marks. It finally clicked. After suffering big point losses to the top teams in District 8-AA even after the fact the Lions would have a significant more shot attempts, The Lions took out their shooting frustrations on the Tigers. The Lions would connect on 25 of 51 from the field and led most of the game with a 13-15 point margin until a late rally by the Tigers closed the lead to only 3 with 30 seconds to play. Junior guard Jarrett Melton would step to the free throw line and knock down 11 of 14 free throws to help Cannon ward off the Tigers 74-70. Melton would finish with a game high 23 points while Cory Henley added 16. Brad Hutchins battled for 10 points before he went down to an injury in the second quarter. Cannon’s record overall is now 8-20 and 4-7 in district. The Lions climbed up a notch in the standings to fifth place after York lost to regular season district champion Livingston 61-39
