Last team standing: Munford boys are only local basketball team alive in postseason

About two weeks ago, eight Tipton County-area basketball teams began their postseason.

After the Covington girls fell last night, there is only local team left: the Munford Cougars.

Munford, the fourth seed out of District 14-AAA, upset top-seeded Dyer County 72-62 Saturday night in Newbern to move into a region semifinal game tonight vs. Ripley in Ripley. Game time is 6 p.m.

Dyer County led 50-49 with 6:53 left in the game before the Cougars went on an 11-0 run to pull away.

If Munford beats Ripley tonight the Cougars will move into Thursday’s region title game against either Crockett County or Haywood and will qualify for Monday’s sectional game, the winner of which moves on to the state tournament.

The season ended for the Covington girls in a 65-55 loss to Dyer County in the region semifinals. Shamya Butler led Covington with 17 points, Na’Kya Giliam added 11 and Alana Whiten scored 10. Cor’Tayza Flowers, the team’s leading scorer, was held to six.

In the region quarterfinals Friday at home, Covington found itself behind 11-2 four minutes into the first period. Dyersburg thwarted the CHS full court press with run out passes over the defense and scored almost at will while the Lady Chargers could not find the range. CHS tied the score at 20 at the 3:01 mark of the second period and took its only lead of the half, 22-10, at the 2:25 mark. A Trojan 3-pointer at the buzzer gave them a 25-24 advantage at the break.

Coach Katrisha Glass apparently got her message across in the locker room. After Dyersburg scored the first basket of the half, an 18-2 Covington run followed in a 23-8 quarter and Covington went on to a 74-51 win.

Covington (23-8) found itself behind 11-2 four minutes into the first period. Dyersburg thwarted the CHS full court press with run out passes over the defense and scored almost at will while the Lady Chargers could not find the range. CHS tied the score at 20 at the 3:01 mark of the second period and took its only lead of the half, 22-10, at the 2:25 mark. A Trojan 3-pointer at the buzzer gave them a 25-24 advantage at the break.

Coach Katrisha Glass apparently got her message across in the locker room. Dyersburg scored the first basket of the half. An 18-2 Covington run followed in a 23-8 quarter and the rest is history.

Flowers took her 14-point first-half total to another level in the final 16 minutes, adding 21 more for a game-high 35. Whiten, came to life from long range, drilling four from beyond the arc during the game-changing third-period run as part of her 21-point night.

The Covington Chargers led on three occasions in Saturday night’s Region 7 quarterfinal at Crockett County. The last was at 9-8. There was one tie in the second period and that was as close as the Chargers would get in a season-ending 58-53 loss.

The Cavaliers seemed to get every 50/50 ball and dominated the paint. Brandon Guyton led the scoring with 20 points for Crockett. Two other players had 18 apiece. Elijah Ford had 12 points for the Chargers and John Mason scored 10. No other Charger or Cavalier player reached double figures.

Covington made a run late. Trailing 50-40, a pair of Tylan Holland 3-pointers and a put-back by John Mason cut the margin to 50-48 with 75 seconds left. Crockett’s Hadyn Moten ended the suspense with his fifth 3-pointer of the night with 30 seconds remaining.

Steve Holt contributed to this story.