LIVINGSTON-The Clay County Lady Bulldogs advanced to regional play with a 56-44 opening-round win over Monterey in the District 7-A tournament on Monday night. 

Monterey led 8-2 after the first quarter, but Clay County battled back to take a 16-14 lead in a low-scoring first half.  The Lady Bulldogs led 39-23 after three quarters, and held off a fourth-quarter rally by the Lady Wildcats to advance to the semi-finals Thursday night against second seed Jackson County. 

It was the 19th win of the season for coach Sharon Kimes’ team. Junior Sarah Ogletree led the CCHS scoring with 14, including six of six shooting from the free throw line in the fourth quarter, when Monterey made its run. Kayla Kimes, Tristan Watson and Sydney Roach all added 10 points each for the Lady Dawgs, while Amelia Kirk had eight. Rachel Burnette and Emma Ogletree each added two points off the bench.

The Lady Bulldogs had one of their better free throw shooting games of the year, connecting on 21 of 29 attempts, a big key in the game.