Bri Melton knew she didn’t have to win the game by herself against the Cookeville Lady Cavaliers, but it didn’t stop the freshman from trying.
Melton scored 27 points as the Warren County High School freshman girls team defeated Cookeville 47-30 on Monday night.
Melton helped set the tone early by scoring 13 points in the first quarter, nine coming on three 3-pointers. By the time Melton had finished putting on a shooting clinic in the first quarter, the Lady Pioneers led 16-5.
Warren County cranked up its defense even more in the second quarter, holding the Lady Cavaliers scoreless in their own gym.
Melton and Brittany Myers handled the scoring load as the Lady Pioneers outscored Cookeville 18-0 in the second quarter to take a 34-5 lead into halftime.
Warren County didn’t need to do much in the second half to pick up the victory. With Melton and Myers doing just enough on offense to keep the Lady Cavaliers at bay, the Lady Pioneers cruised to a 17-point victory on the road.
Melton’s 27 points were the most any Lady Pioneer has scored in a freshman game this season. Myers finished with 12 points, most coming from the free-throw line as the point guard sank 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. Samantha Howard finished with four points, all coming in the second quarter.
While the Lady Pioneers improved their record to  6-8, the boys freshman team fell to 4-5 overall with a 58-47 loss to the Cavaliers.
Edgar Morales and Bryson Lewis tried to carry the Pioneers to victory, but their effort fell short as Cookeville owned the middle two quarters to win.
The Pioneers trailed 15-14 after the first quarter as Morales scored 10 of his team-high 20 points in the period.
Cookeville moved the lead to 31-25 by halftime despite Brock Majors sinking two 3-pointers for the Pioneers in the second quarter. The Cavaliers pushed the advantage to 11 entering the fourth quarter by holding the Pioneers to nine points in the third quarter.
Lewis awoke in the final period, but it was too little, too late. Lewis scored nine points in the final quarter as he hit a 3-pointer, earned four trips to the free-throw line and sank half of his attempts and also got the basket for a layup.
Even with Lewis powering the Pioneer offense, Warren County couldn’t close the gap and lost by 11. Majors finished with nine points.
Monday’s games were the final tune-up for the freshman teams as the District 6-AAA tournament will start on Thursday at Charlie Dalton Gym.
The Lady Pioneers will be in action on the first night as the team plays host to Cookeville. Tip-off for Thursday’s game is set for 6 p.m.
With a win, the Warren County girls would advance to the semifinals and play Coffee County at noon Saturday.
The girls championship game is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday at Charlie Dalton Gym.
The Pioneers are scheduled to play at 10:30 a.m. Saturday against White County. A victory would move Warren County into the finals Saturday at 4:30 p.m.