By David Lowrie
Correspondent
COALMONT, Tenn. -- Grundy County was looking to make history Tuesday night with both its basketball teams playing for District 7-AA tournament titles.
The host Lady Jackets were able to gain their first tournament title in more than 10 years by edging Chattanooga Christian 59-55, but Notre Dame freshman Steadman Ford hit a buzzer shot to leave Grundy's boys on the short end of a 66-64 score.
Grundy girls' coach Kasey Woodlee was overcome after her program's first district title since she played for the 1998 state-champion team.
"It's been a long time coming for the players, the community and for everyone who's ever worn a Grundy uniform. We finally brought it back," Woodlee said.
Down 29-18 in the second quarter after a 10-0 CCS run, Grundy used 9-0, 6-0, 8-0 and 8-0 spurts to combat the Lady Chargers' deadly outside shooting. Each time Grundy made a run, CCS would drain one or two 3-pointers to retake a lead, but the Lady Chargers struggled to combat the sophomore post duo of Chelsey Wiseman and Haley Coffelt.
Coffelt had the game of her career with 25 points, while Wiseman, normally Grundy's top scorer, added 12. Mercedis Owen paced CCS with 19, including five 3s.
The Grundy guys built a 45-31 lead in the third quarter, only to see the Irish chip away at it and go up by six themselves midway through the fourth. With six seconds remaining, Grundy's Kevin Butner hit a layup to tie the contest at 64. After a timeout, Notre Dame ran the floor and Ford drained the jumper for the win.
"We missed our big guy tonight. He's out with the flu, and it really hurt us in the first half. He protects the basket for us," Notre Dame coach Tommy Fox said. "To be honest I can't say enough good things about Grundy County -- the way their kids play as hard as any basketball team I've ever seen, and Mike Holt is a lot better basketball coach than I'll ever be.
"Late in the game we made a couple of shots and a couple of plays. We've got some pretty good players. We switched defenses late and it took them off rhythm, and it just came down to who had the ball last. And we had the ball last and Ford made a great shot."
All four teams playing Tuesday advance to first-round region play this weekend, with the girls hosting games Friday and the boys' finalists hosting Saturday against District 8-AA.