CARTERVILLE- last night, the Carterville Lady Lions basketball team took on the Hamilton County Foxes in a non-conference matchup. They ended up winning 59-52 thanks to a dominant 4th quarter from senior Amaya Doyle.

Before the game, the 2024 seniors were honored before their last home crowd. Head Coach Todd Rogers took this opportunity to start his three seniors, Amayah Doyle, Kennedy Rushing, and Hillary Siemer.

Rushing was out due to a concussion, but despite this, she was still put into the game and was even allowed to score the first layup.

The Lions trailed from the start as they struggled to contain the good Hamilton County offense. At the end of the quarter, the Foxes drained a three that seemed to shut the Lions down until sophomore Khamari Jackson drained a buzzer-beater to give the Lions a glimpse of hope going into the second quarter, 23-15 Foxes.

The foxes pulled away in the second quarter as they got hot from three. Carterville continued to fall behind as their slow offense prevented them from scoring more than 8 in the quarter, and their defense could not keep up with the sharp-shooting Foxes. The second quarter ended at 35-23.

After the half, Hamilton County came out, sinking two more threes within the first minute and thirty seconds. This gave the Lions the shock they needed as sophomore Caidence Phillips threw a three-pointer up and drained it. This is where Senor Amayah Doyle got hot, sinking two back-to-back threes trying to chip into Hamilton County’s lead 42-37 Foxes.

At the end of the quarter, Hillary Siemer felt her time running out as a senior and tried to take the game into her own hands as she made a three to cut the Foxes lead down to 2 going into the fourth quarter, 45-42 Foxes.

The fourth quarter was all about senior Amaya Doyle, who opened the quarter with a three, moving to 48-46 Foxes. Then she followed that three up with another one, 49-48 Lions. Next, she made two layups to move the score to 53-52 Lions. The final blow to the Foxes was when Doyle sank two free throws to push her team past Hamilton County 59-52.

The Lady Lions basketball team will start regionals on the 13th. For more Carterville sports updates, follow @Cartervilleath on Instagram and Twitter.