BAY MINETTE, Alabama—The Lady Tigers held visiting Escambia County to single-digit scoring in all but one eight-minute period Friday to claim a 46-37 Baldwin County win over the Lady Blue Devils of Atmore.

The long-time rivals from ECHS led 20-19 at the half, but a late third-quarter run put the Lady Tigers out front 34-28 to start the final period. Latia Pullum hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch as BC wrapped up a 12-9 run.

Pullum finished strong scoring 17 of her 24 total points in the second half. Jasmine Ireland and Nicole Johnson each scored seven for the Blue Devils.

“Latia stepped up big tonight, everybody did,” said BCHS head coach Robert Wills whose leading scorer Nakea McDougal was out with a reinjured knee. “We don’t know how bad it is, this time, but I hope she gets to finish out her senior year. She’s done a lot for the team and I think everybody wanted to win this one for her. She’s such a great kid and has a bright future. We will just keep going and hope she can come back again. Big rivalry game like this is always fun and a whole lot more when you win it. But we’re still up and down and I’m trying to get us to play with more consistency and in the second half we did better. But I believe we can still improve.”

ECHS fell to 10-9 overall. The Lady Blue Devils are 2-2 in their 4A Area 1 league. They will host area rival Clarke County Tuesday. The Lady Tigers improved to 10-8 overall and are 6-1 heading into their final area battle at Robertsdale Tuesday at 6 p.m.