BAINBRIDGE – The opening round of the Kazalski Girls Basketball Tournament, hosted by Bainbridge-Guilford, saw a late-night battle for a spot in the championship between the Bobcats and the Tioga Tigers. The Tigers closed out the contest on a 13-5 run to top B-G 46-38 to move into the title game against Deposit/Hancock on Friday.

Deposit/Hancock defeated familiar Midstate Athletic Conference foe Sidney in the earlier game 68-47 behind the stellar performance of Laycee Drake. Drake ended the night with 31 points and 11 rebounds.

In the night cap, Tioga started out the game on 10-0 run but the spurt was ended by B-G’s Celeste Baldwin’s 3-pointer with 3:55 left in the first quarter. Sara Cannistra added a bucket then Macie Leizear knocked down two shots from behind the arc to quickly close the lead down to just four points at the end of the opening stanza.

Using their momentum from the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats ended the half with a five point lead as they outscored the Tigers 15-7 in the eight minutes of play.

However, following the break, the offensive push from the first half for Bainbridge-Guilford stalled as they only scored 12 points in the final two quarter.

Tioga found a rhythm and totaled 25 points in the second half to take the win. The visitors did most of their damage at the free throw line, shooting 10 of the 18 foul shots taken in the half.