The Straughn Middle School girls’ basketball team eliminated the Florala Lady Wildcats from the 2015 Covington County Junior High basketball tournament with a 21-13 win Wednesday in Pleasant Home.

Straughn jumped on top 2-0 when Sydney Arnett connected with the basket right out of the gate.

The Lady Tigers continued strong when Kylie Wilson stole a Lady Wildcat pass and sprinted to the other end for an uncontested layup for a quick 4-0 lead. Allie Kelley added two more points for the Lady Tigers when she corralled an offensive rebound and then went right back up for the basket.

With 40 seconds left on the clock in the opening period, Florala’s MaKayla Parker buried a short jumper to cut the lead down to 6-2 heading into the second period.

The first points of the second period came when Straughn’s Chelsi Brookes scored after coming up with an offensive board.

The Lady Tigers then went up 9-2 when Kelley connected with a free throw.

Florala responded with a basket from Ranisha Wright to make the score 9-4 heading into halftime.

Straughn opened up the third period with aggression and quickly mounted a 15-4 lead with points from Aryanna Billips and Brookes. Maghan Douglas also scored for the Lady Tigers in third period.

Wright came on strong for the Lady Wildcats late in the third period and cut the deficit down to 17-9 heading into the final period.

Meredith Parker went 2-for-2 at the free throw line to start the fourth period and trimmed into the Lady Tigers’ lead a little more.

The Lady Tigers responded with a 4-0 run from Billips and Brookes to give Straughn a 21-13 win.

Brookes led the Lady Tigers with 6 points. Billips and Douglas each finished with 4 points.

“I really thought we played hard,” Lady Tigers’ coach Megan Ford said. “This was the first tournament experience for most of these girls and I really thought they handled it well and worked hard as a team. This was a good game against a good team and we played great on defense.”

Wright led the Lady Wildcats with 7 points. York, MaKayla and Meredith Parker each finished with 2 points.

“We are starting to compete and we are getting better,” Florala coach Troy Stewart said. “A lot of these girls didn’t get much playing time last year and I think they have really gotten a lot better since last year. They work hard and we are going to continue to push them.”

The Lady Tigers will go on to face the Pleasant Home in the girls’ championship game today at 6 p.m., in Pleasant Home.