The old sports cliché says that defense wins championships. Tanner’s girls team lives by that mantra, as the Rattlers overcame a poor shooting performance to defeat Clements behind a strong defensive effort.

A steal and layup by Nautica Noble with 1:45 remaining provided the winning points as the Rattlers held off a comeback effort by the Colts to take a 46-41 Limestone County Girls Tournament semifinal win on Friday night.

“Our defense makes our offense go,” Tanner coach Jordan Paul said. “In these type of situations, you’ve got to see what you’re made of, and I’m really pleased with how they stepped up, because a lot of them haven’t been in that type of situation before and they were able to come through. I’m real proud of them.”

Tanner held a 38-30 lead with 6:14 remaining in the fourth quarter, but Clements went on an 11-3 run to tie the game when Emrey McGill scored on a fast-break layup following a Tanner turnover with 2:20 remaining.

The Rattlers missed a shot on their next possession, but after Clements gathered in the rebound, Noble stole the ball and laid it in to give Tanner a 43-41 lead with 1:45 left.

Clements had two chances to tie the score, but missed two free throws with 1:33 left and then turned the ball over with just over a minute remaining.

Tanner was able to run 30 seconds off the clock before Noble was fouled and calmly sank two free throws with 31 seconds remaining to give the Rattlers a two-possession lead. Clements turned the ball over again on its next possession, and Kennedy Lewter closed the scoring by hitting one final free throw with 16 seconds left.

“I didn’t sub quite as much as I have been, because it’s a big game and I trust the ones on the floor in that situation,” Paul said. “But that also led to us getting a little tired there in the third and early part of the fourth quarter. I just had to remind them, that you’ve played through being tired before, and this is too big of a game to lose it because you were a little tired. So they swelled up, got some stops and hit some free throws down the stretch to win it.”

Tanner’s defense was its catalyst the entire game, as the Rattlers overcame a 9-8 deficit at the end of the first quarter by outscoring Clements 16-9 in the second quarter, with a majority of their baskets being layups in transition following steals or missed shots. The Rattlers only hit two jump shots in the first half, and just one 3-pointer.

Clements closed to within 34-30 after three quarters, but Tanner extended the lead out to eight points before the Colts made their final push.

Nahri’yah Timmons led Tanner with 12 points while Ikia Mitchell scored 11 and Noble and Lewter both tallied nine.

Clements was led by McGill, who scored a game-high 18 points.

Tanner, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, will face top seed East Limestone in Saturday’s championship game. Paul will be going for his second consecutive tournament championship as a coach, as he coached West Limestone to last year’s title, defeating Tanner in the final.

“I was looking back at last year’s game, and thinking about this year’s game, and I haven’t scored a single basket. I haven’t made an assist, and haven’t made a single stop. So this isn’t about me. This is about the kids. Last year’s (West Limestone) team was special, and did a great job of stepping up, and I hope that this group will also.”