EDINBURGH — The energy of Alexis Tackett overwhelmed Edinburgh and helped Shelbyville produce a 53-27 season-opening win.
The sophomore collected career highs in points (23) and rebounds (16) Tuesday and was part of a harassing defense that forced the Lancers into 26 turnovers, including 10 before they ever scored a point.
"She crashes that offensive glass and gives everything she has on the floor," said Shelbyville coach Scott Larrabee of Tackett. "She played outstanding in a lot of factors. I thought she really set the tone in the beginning of the game with our defense. She really disrupted Edinburgh's half-court offense. It was hard to tell but they were really trying to pound it inside on us and weren't able to do it at the point of attack because she did a nice job. That really set the tone."
With an inexperienced roster, a fast start made a road win come much easier.
Taylor Perry scored from close range 22 seconds into the game to stake Shelbyville to the lead. She added a pair of free throws 79 seconds later and Tackett took the ball away from a Lancer and scored to make it 6-0.
Abby Orem and Tackett each hit 1 of 2 free throws and Tackett again slashed into the lane and scored and Edinburgh was facing a 10-0 deficit with two minutes left in the quarter.
"I thought we played our style and set the tempo, which was our goal coming in," said Larrabee. "First game... new team... players in a lot of different roles... and we had to deal with foul trouble and we were still able to play at our pace."
Edinburgh's first points of the season came on a pair of free throws from Mariah Weddle at the 1:48 mark.
Morgan Parker beat the buzzer for a three-pointer at the end of the quarter to give Shelbyville a 15-4 lead and the junior hit another trifecta early in the second quarter. She finished with 15 points, six rebounds and two steals.
The Shelbyville lead at halftime was 23-10 and a 10-0 run in the third quarter, in which Tackett had six, extended the lead to 33-13.
Tackett, her team's leading returning scorer (6.1 ppg) from last season, had eight points in the third quarter when she admitted to settling down, and grabbed six of her game-high 16 rebounds in the fourth.
"The first half, I was kind of shaky but, in the second half, I really found my way, made more buckets and got more rebounds," said Tackett. "It all came together for me in the second half."
Edinburgh pulled away in the fourth quarter to win the junior varsity game, 42-30.
Shey Tillison led the Golden Bears with 10 points. Madalyn Toll finished with eight.
Makenzie Hill topped the Lancers with 14 points.
Shelbyville is back in action Saturday at East Central.
