DELPHOS — The Lady Tigers of Waynesfield-Goshen made the trek on the icy roads to Delphos to face off with the Lady Wildcats of Jefferson.

The Wildcats were able to pull it out in the end with a victory of 50-42.

The game appeared like it was going to be an easy one for the Wildcats as the Tigers had 13 turnovers in the first period. This assumption was not true as the Tigers fought hard, especially under the basket for the boards, as the game was close until the last minute of the game when Jefferson finally pulled away.

Jefferson was able to put seven players in the book by the time the buzzer sounded at the half as the Tigers were only able to put three in the book at half.

The Tigers also struggled handling the ball the second period as they ended the half with 23 turnovers; the Wildcats only had 12 at the half.

“We weren’t able to capitalize as much on their turnovers as we would have liked as we struggled to execute things in the first half. Our pressure that we did apply in the first half definitely caused some problems for them,” stated Jefferson mentor Dave Hoffman.

The players of both teams came out playing hard as every girl was trying to help give her team the edge. The Tigers and Wildcats both had people in foul trouble in the third quarter; eventually, both teams lost two players to fouls. Freshman Bridget Culp helped with forcing turnovers from the Tigers as she had many steals for the Wildcats, along with having key blocks to save the Tigers from taking the lead.

Culp was not the only one that saved some baskets with blocks; junior Ashley Watkins also helped in that aspect of the game. As the third quarter ended, the score stood at 35-28, Jefferson with the lead.

“The second half, we had some good help off the bench when we lost some to fouls. When we lost our post, it really took away our inside game. We play in spurts with scoring and sometimes we just seem to come out and play scared for awhile,” noted Hoffman.

Waynesfield was able to eventually knot the game in the final period as they tied it at 39 with 2:41 remaining. Jefferson took the lead away from the Tigers one last time as freshman Morgan Fischbach drained a 15-footer with 2 minutes left on the clock to make the score 41-40.

Jefferson never looked back after they got their lead as they forced the Tigers to foul them every time they got the ball to give the Tigers more time to score.

The Tigers finished the game with 31 rebounds and 34 turnovers as the Wildcats finished with 21 rebounds and 19 turnovers.

Jefferson shot 32 percent from the field and 56 percent from the charity stripe; the Tigers shot 36 percent from the field and 73 percent from the charity stripe.

“Culp really helps us with her quickness and ability to block a shot. (Freshman Kristin) Klausing and (sophomore Stephanie) Blockberger being out have caused us to force people to play other positions and we just keep working to get better,” added Hoffman.

The Wildcats increased their mark to 4-3, as they will travel to Lincolnview for a Northwest Conference matchup on Thursday.

The Tigers drop to 2-6 on the season.

In JV action, Jefferson prevailed 39-24.

Jefferson was led by Fischbach with 12; Elizabeth Miller led the Tigers with nine points.