RED LEVEL - McKenzie girls basketball coach Cindy Lowe said after Monday's first-round game in the Eighth Annual Red Level Christmas Tournament that she has run into a lot of first-time events with her squad.

For the first time in the school's history the Lady Tigers are not a doormat for any team they face.

For the first time in the school's history, McKenzie beat area foe J.F. Shields.

And then another first for Lowe and McKenzie came Monday night.

The Lady Tigers (9-2) were outscored 14-3 in the final period of their game with tournament host Red Level, and Lowe just laughed it off.

It was easy to do since McKenzie ended up settling for a 53-33 victory.

&#8220I'm running into a lot of firsts with this team,” Lowe said with a smile.

Facing an obviously overmatched Red Level team, the Lady Tigers raced to a 15-6 lead in the opening period. McKenzie looked to be pitching a shutout until Red Level (1-10) managed its first field goal midway through the stanza.

The Lady Tigers, who faced Paxton (Fla.) High in the quarterfinals late Tuesday, put the game away by the half.

McKenzie went on a 14-2 run midway through the second period to cruise to a comfortable 33-14 advantage at intermission.

Carrena Davison scored eight of her game-high 16 points in the second period alone for the Lady Tigers.

Lowe's Lady Tigers then went for the knockout punch to open the final period by going on a 15-2 run to claim their largest lead of the game at 31 points before clearing her bench.

&#8220I was expecting a Red Level team that I heard took Florala to overtime,” Lowe said. &#8220So I told the girls if they could take Florala to overtime, then they were quite capable of whipping our butts. This is the same team we faced to open the season and only beat by 12 points.”

LaSha Pitts chipped in 13 for McKenzie, while Amber Rudolph added 11.

BreAnna Pate led Red Level with seven.

Earlier in the tournament, Samson's boys team outscored Highland Home 20-11 in the final eight minutes of their first-round matchup to edge the Flying Squadron, 60-57.

Highland Home (7-5) scored four-straight points in the last minute of the third period to take a six-point lead into the final period.

But Samson (11-5) kept clawing and stratching, while allowing the Flying Squadron to implode with unforced turnovers.

Jeremy Griffith led Samson with 19 points.

Derrick Dulaney led four Flying Squadron in double figures with 16. Carnell Bryant added 14, Arico Harris with 11 and Deymond Sankey with 10.