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Midway through the third quarter of Tuesday night’s District 13-AAA game between Munford and Brighton, Lady Cardinal senior Sylvia “Bug” Jones lunged for a loose ball, collided with Munford’s Mary Richardson and ended up face down on the Munford court.
She popped up pretty quickly and tried to carry on, but was evident she was injured as blood spilled on to the Munford gym floor. She went to the locker room with her team ahead 14-11.
“I wasn’t out of it, it was just a moment where I was like, ‘Oh my god, blood everywhere, I was panicking,'” Jones said. “I was in the locker room like, ‘Come on, come on, I got to get back.'”
She re-emerged a few minutes later with a large bandage on her chin, and this time she didn’t panic. Jones made 7 of 8 free throws in overtime and finished with a game-high 17 points to lead Brighton to a 34-27 win.
“You got 10 seconds,” Jones said when asked what was going through her mind at the free throw line. “Take your time and make the shot. That’s it.”
Brighton (16-7 overall, 4-2 district) moved into a second place tie with Dyer County, one game behind first-place Hardin County. Brighton host both of those teams over the next 10 days. Munford, which beat Brighton last month, fell to 11-12 and 2-4.
It was all Brighton early as the Lady Cardinals led 8-2 after one quarter and didn’t allow Munford a field goal until Brezia Cooper scored with 3:09 left in the first half.
Munford had just two field goals in the first half and appeared to be out of the game until Cooper and Gabby Lincoln hit 3-pointers in the third quarter to put Munford ahead 19-14 with 1:17 left in the third quarter.
Brighton had a chance to win it in regulation, but Jones was whistled for a charge with :04 left and the game went into overtime. DeMiyah Gatlin, who finished with 11 points, hit a 3-pointer in the extra period and Jones took care of the rest at the free throw line.
Cooper led Munford with nine points.
In boys’ action:
Brighton won its third straight game and finished off a season sweep of Munford (3-18, 1-5) with a 37-30 win.
The Cardinals (12-11, 5-1) have won four of their last five games and are in second place in the district standings, one game behind Dyer County, which the Cardinals host Friday night.
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