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By KEVIN ECKLEBERRY

Daily News

FRANKLIN – The LaGrange Lady Grangers overcame a difficult start to make a game of it, but it was home-standing Heard County securing a 45-41 victory on Tuesday night.

The basket had a lid on it for the Lady Grangers in the early going, and they found themselves trailing 11-0 after the first quarter.

The Lady Grangers recovered and got as close as two points in the fourth quarter, but they were unable to complete the comeback.

“We scored zero points in the first quarter,” said LaGrange head coach Stephen Tuck. “One of the things I tried to preach to the girls was, relax. Just relax. Y’all are coming out really tight, and you have to relax.”

Tuck was pleased with how the players ran the offense in the first quarter, the shots just weren’t falling.

“I thought they took good shots,” Tuck said. “That’s all you can do is continue to take good shots.”

The shots started to drop in the second quarter, with Corriah Williams making a pair of 3-pointers including one at the buzzer, but Heard County led 26-12 at the half.

LaGrange fought back in the third quarter, cutting Heard County’s lead to 35-26 heading into the final quarter. LaGrange continued its surge in the fourth quarter and got within two, but Heard County hung on for the four-point win.

“We put up 12, 14 and 16 in the next three quarters,” Tuck said. “That’s roughly where you want to be. It’s one of those things. We’ll look at possibly re-tooling some things in warmups, and just figure it out.”

Williams and Brandasia Cofield each scored 10 points for LaGrange, and Nina Brooks added seven points.

Post player Holly Lynn, who missed the preseason game against Newnan, added six points while providing a much-needed presence in the paint.

“To have her back kind of allows everybody to play their natural positions,” Tuck said. “She anchors the defense, and she rebounds. If she’s not blocking a shot, she’s changing a shot.”