Morristown put everything it had into a strong third-quarter performance then ran out of gas over the final eight minutes against Class 2A, No. 6 Triton Central Thursday night in the semifinal round of the Shelby County Tournament.

The Yellow Jackets outscored the Tigers 15-14 over the third eight-minute period to cut the TC lead to 38-29. Missed opportunities early in the fourth quarter, especially from the free-throw line, showed Morristown had little left to give and the Tigers went in for the kill.

Hallie Schweitzer banked in a short shot in the lane and Lizzie Graham hit her fifth three-pointer of the game and the lead ballooned to 43-29.

Graham hit another 3 in the quarter to finish with a game-high 18 points. She was 6 of 12 from the arc in the win.

Brooklyn Bailey came off the bench to net Triton Central 12 points, nine rebounds and two steals.

“When (Southwestern) packed that zone in there, with her size and strength, we have to get her in quickly,” said Triton Central coach Bryan Graham in his postgame interview with GIANT fm radio. “With her and (Olivia) Faust in there we get those high-low looks. You have to double team one of them. You can roll the dice with one of them one-on-one but the majority of the time they are going to hit the shot.”

Graham hit a pair of corner 3s in the first quarter to stake the Tigers to a 17-10 lead.

The two teams combined to hit 5 of 27 shots in the second quarter and the Tigers’ lead was 10 at halftime, 24-14.

Following a Maddy Brown 3-pointer that opened the lead to 27-14, the Yellow Jackets went on an 8-0 run that started with Nevaeh Sanders hitting a short jumper from the wing.

Raegan Kleine followed with a successful drive into the lane, Danika Rutledge sank two free throws and Sanders scored in the lane to trim the lead to 27-22 with 4:57 left in the quarter.

Graham answered back with another 3 from the wing and Bailey hit a pair of free throws before Kleine splashed her own 3.

The Tigers had a 6-0 run that was answered by Morristown’s 4-0 run that closed one of the best quarters by the Yellow Jackets this season.

There just was not much left in the fourth quarter where Morristown was 0-for-3 from the field and 1 of 6 from the free-throw line while being outscored 12-1.

Kleine finished with a team-high 10 points and three assists and surpassed the 500-point mark in her career in the loss.

Rutledge, a freshman, had four points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots in her county tourney debut at the varsity level. Sanders, another freshman, had seven points.

Morristown shot 41% from the field but only took 27 shots. The Yellow Jackets committed 25 turnovers.

Faust had nine points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals for Triton Central. Brown finished with nine points before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with a leg cramp, according to Bryan Graham.

With the win, Triton Central sets up a rematch of Shelby County’s two top-10 ranked programs. Waldron won the first meeting this season, 46-39 on Dec. 3.

Triton Central will be seeking its eighth-straight county tourney title and possession of the Victory Bell – the county’s traveling trophy.

Waldron is chasing its first county tourney title since 2010.

Triton Central 50, Morristown 30

MT: Rogers 2-3 0-0 4, Kleine 4-8 1-4 10, Laster 0-5 2-2 2, Sanders 3-4 1-4 7, Rutledge 1-5 2-2 4, Cornn 0-1 0-0 0, Lutes 1-1 0-0 3, Rude 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 11-27 6-12 30.

TC: Schweitzer 2-10 0-0 4, Brown 3-13 0-0 7, Graham 6-15 0-0 18, Harris 0-0 0-0 0, Faust 4-11 1-1 9, Bailey 5-9 2-2 12, Ross 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 20-58 3-3 50.

SCORE BY QUARTERS

MT (8-7)  10  4  15    1  --  30

TC (15-2)  17  7  14  12  --  50

Three-point field goals: MT 2-8 (Rogers 0-1, Kleine 1-2, Laster 0-3, Cornn 0-1, Lutes 1-1), TC 7-21 (Schweitzer 0-2, Brown 1-5, Graham 6-12, Faust 0-2). Rebounds: MT 24 (Rogers 1, Kleine 1, Laster 3, Sanders 1, Rutledge 11, Cornn 1, Lutes 5, Rude 1), TC 25 (Schweitzer 3, Brown 3, Graham 4, Harris 2, Faust 4, Bailey 9). Assists: MT 5 (Rogers 1, Kleine 3, Sanders 1), TC 12 (Schweitzer 4, Brown 3, Harris 1, Faust 3, Bailey 1). Steals: MT 1 (Laster 1), TC 7 (Brown 1, Graham 1, Harris 1, Faust 2, Bailey 2). Blocks: MT 4 (Rutledge 3, Lutes 1), TC 1 (Faust 1). Total fouls: MT 4, TC 10. Turnovers: MT 25, TC 6.