By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

JASPER – The season came to a close for the Troup Lady Tigers with a 65-41 loss to Pickens County in the opening round of the Class AAAA state tournament on Friday night.

The Lady Tigers trailed 14-8 after the first quarter, and they were down 26-14 at the half.

Any hope Troup had of mounting a comeback was dashed in the third quarter when it was outscored by 12 points to fall behind 46-22.

Sophomore Amber Gilbert, who’ll be a focal point of next season’s team, led Troup with 18 points, and she made a pair of 3-pointers.

Senior Kiya Fulton added nine points, with eight of those points coming in the fourth quarter.

Jedda Madden, another member of Troup’s talented senior class, added eight points.

Seniors Aundracia Riggins, Valerie Smith, Fulton and Madden all played significant roles on this season’s team.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what they do,” Troup head coach Carla Thornton said of the seniors. “They all want to go to college, and some of them may sign scholarships.”

The Lady Tigers posted a winning record, and they were third in the Region 5-AAAA tournament.

“I hate that it has to finish this way, but a lot of people didn’t expect us to make it this far,” Thornton said.