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The Callaway girls basketball team had to dig deep on Tuesday to come away with a 55-36 region victory over Jackson High.

The game was characterized by strong defensive play on both sides of the court. Both sets of offenses had to scrape and claw for every point in the game. 

Despite winning by nearly 20 points, the game was in balance in the fourth quarter. 

The Red Devils refused to go down without a fight and cut the Callaway lead down to just five points with under four minutes to go. Just when it looked like Jackson had captured the momentum, Aniyah McFarland came up with a clutch 5-0 run. The senior got an offensive rebound and a putback and then hit a 3-pointer in transition to put the home team right back up by 10 points, wrestling momentum away from the Red Devils in the process.

The Cavaliers would close the game with a flurry, scoring the final 14 points of the game. 

The early goings were back-and-forth with Callaway taking an early 13-9 advantage after the opening quarter of play. By halftime, the Cavaliers were able to build a 28-21 lead.

The defensive fight continued into the second half with Callaway narrowly outscoring the Red Devils 11-10 in the third quarter. 

The offense load for the Cavaliers was spread around with eight different players getting into the scoring column on Tuesday. Tra’Niya Mitchell led the way for Callaway as the only Cavaliers in double figures, scoring with 10 points. Mitchell earned a double-double by being an absolute pest on the defensive end, coming away with 10 steals on the evening. 

Aubrey Chelcy and Kenzi Howard finished with nine points apiece for the Cavaliers. 

Callaway snapped a two-game losing streak with the win over Jackson and improved to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in region play. The Cavaliers will look to make it two in a row when they travel to take on region foe Rutland on Thursday in a game that was originally scheduled for this past Saturday before it was moved due to inclement weather. This game will serve as the first in a back-to-back as the Cavaliers will host region leader Morgan County on Friday.