Temperatures were cold outside Friday at Lookout Valley, but inside the Yellow Jackets turned up the heat with their defense, particularly in the fourth quarter when they needed it most.
Lookout Valley broke a tie at the end of the third quarter on a field goal by Terry Billingsley in the first minute of the fourth and led the rest of the way in winning the District 6-A high school basketball game against Van Buren County 58-55.
Lookout Valley (9-8) improved to 4-0 in the district. Should the Jackets win at home tonight against Marion County, it would set up a showdown Tuesday at Sale Creek against the district's other unbeaten team.
The Yellow Jackets got off to a 15-5 start against the Eagles, but by halftime the Eagles led 26-25. Van Buren (9-10, 4-2) led by five inside of two minutes to play in the third quarter before Billingsley made a jump shot from the left side of the lane with a minute to go and Greg Dixon added a 3-pointer from the left corner to make it 39-39 going to the fourth.
"We had some guys hit some key 3s," Lookout Valley coach Eric Ford said. "Greg's at the end of the third quarter was big. It gave us some momentum going into the fourth quarter."
In the final eight minutes the Jackets extended their man-to-man defense farther, much like it was during their fast start. By the time Van Buren called time out with 3:48 remaining, Lookout Valley's lead was 54-43.
"We had to wait until the fourth quarter to press because we got in foul trouble early," Ford said.
Said Van Buren coach Dustin Sullivan: "They did a good job of speeding us up a little bit. I didn't do a good job of helping us out with that."
The Eagles whittled the margin down from there and got within two on Caden Mills' 3-point shot with 11 seconds to play. Bailee Melton made the front end of a one-and-one for the Jackets with 5.6 seconds left but missed the second. Bo Walker's desperation 3 from the deep left corner for Van Buren was off line at the buzzer.
"I think maybe the situation got a little bit too big for us," Sullivan said. "We haven't been in too many atmospheres like that. We still had a shot to win."
Billingsley scored 14 points and Larry McCullough scored nine before fouling out for Lookout Valley. William Ball contributed 12 points.
Mills topped the Eagles with 17. Slayton Pettit scored 14 and Drew Roberts had 10.
Van Buren girls 57, Lookout Valley 37: Coach Cheryl Cole said her Eaglettes team doesn't often see a zone defense, which is what the Lady Yellow Jackets played, but it didn't take them long to adjust. After falling behind 2-0, they made five consecutive 3-point baskets -- the last three by Lakelyn Bouldin -- and ultimately led 34-10 at halftime.
"That's what we play, so we thought we'd stay with it," Lookout Valley coach Darren Crownover said of the zone. "Obviously Lakelyn is an unbelievable player, but they had some other girls hit some 3s, too. We were kind of hoping they might miss one."
The Lady Jackets outscored Van Buren 13-7 in the third quarter, but an 8-2 run to start the fourth enabled the Eaglettes to regain control.
"I thought we started going to the basket a bit better in the second half," Crownover said. "We got to the line a few times, which helps when you're not making everything."
Bouldin finished with 23 points. Rae Anna Hodges came off the bench and scored 13 for Van Buren (16-3, 7-0) and Carly Cole added 11.
Lookout Valley (12-5, 3-1) got 11 points from Annie Marr and 10 from Elexis Foster. All of Marr's were in the second half.
"That was the one thing we focused on when we met before the game," Coach Cole said. "We wanted to be the one to stay undefeated when we leave this game."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him at twitter.com/KelleySmiddie.