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Maggie West, above, posted 27 points as one of three players in double figures to help the Shelby County Wildcats finish area play undefeated at 6-0 on Thursday, Jan. 24. (For the Reporter/Larry Dancy)

By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Sports Editor

DEATSVILLE – The Shelby County Wildcats’ girls basketball team may have one blemish on their overall record, but on Thursday, Jan. 24, they stayed as close to perfect as they can after finishing area play 6-0 this season thanks to a 70-53 road win against Marbury.

With the perfect 6-0 record, the Wildcats are now set to host the Class 5A Area 6 tournament and improved to 22-1 overall this season for the best winning percentage, boys or girls, in the entire county.

Ranked No. 5 in the state in the 5A classification, Shelby County looked like it from the start in this one posting 24 first quarter points behind none other than Maggie West.

West started the game on fire from the field hitting three 3-pointers and four more jumpers to post 17 of her 27 in the game and the team’s 24 points in the period.

Aside from that, Aaliyah Cotton added two more 3-pointers and Madison Purcell added a free throw to help the Wildcats jump out to a 24-13 advantage.

The Bulldogs’ 13 points weren’t a bad effort as five scorers got in on the action, but it wasn’t enough to keep pace as they quickly found themselves in a deep hole.

That hole got even deeper in the second quarter as Skye Knighten-Lilly caught fire with three field goals, while Haley Ruiz-Hope added two more 3-pointers for the Wildcats.

With those two combining for 12 points, West going 2-2 from the free throw line and Katelyn Lucas hitting a jumper, Shelby County put up 16 more points for 40 at the half.

Marbury, on the other hand, put up 13 points for the second consecutive quarter after three players had four or more points in the period, but the Bulldogs’ 26 points at the half had them trailing by 14 points—a tough mountain to climb against the No. 5 team with only one loss.

It didn’t get any better for Marbury coming out of the locker room into the second half as the Wildcats put together their second best quarter of the game.

Shelby County was able to take advantage of three players with four or more points, including six from Knighten-Lilly for the second consecutive quarter.

West and Cotton had strong quarters as well combining for nine points to help the Wildcats post 20 points in the frame.

That combined with their best defensive performance of the game limiting Marbury to 12 points in the quarter led to the Wildcats extending their lead to 60-38 heading to the final quarter.

In the fourth, Marbury got three 3-pointers from Renijah Brown and four total in the quarter to help the Bulldogs post their best offensive quarter of the game with 15 points, but with the 22-point deficit, that wasn’t nearly enough.

Shelby County closed the game out with 10 more points in the final quarter, five of which came from Cotton and the other five of which were split between West and Purcell, as the Wildcats picked up the dominant 70-53 victory.

Led by West’s 27 points, Shelby County ended the game with three scorers in double figures as Cotton added 17 points and Knighten-Lilly posted 12 points.

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