The third time wasn't a charm for the Sweetwater Wildcats as they lost to the Lenoir City Panthers 68-49 on Tuesday night.
It was the third time the Wildcats have lost to the Panthers in a month as Sweetwater faced Lenoir City once in the Lenoir City Christmas Classic and twice in the regular season series.
The Wildcats played the Panthers tough early, but a tough second quarter on the offensive end doomed the Cats as they fell to 8-12 overall.

Gavyn Davis started the game by drilling a 3-pointer, but Lenoir City quickly answered by scoring eight of the next 10 points.
Another Davis field goal and a three-point play by Corey Billingsley gave Sweetwater a 10-8 lead, but it was the last lead Sweetwater would hold in the game.
The Panthers outscored Sweetwater 6-2 in the final 2:49 of the second quarter and held a 14-12 lead after one.

That's when the wheels fell off for the Wildcats.

Lenoir City's Tyler Hood sparked a 22-5 run for the Panthers that gave the home team a commanding 36-17 lead with 1:15 to play in the half.
Davis scored all five Sweetwater points in that span and seven of the Wildcats' nine points in the quarter.
Sweetwater trailed 38-21 at the half.

Lenoir City kept the offensive blitz going in the third quarter, outscoring Sweetwater 17-15 in the quarter to take a 55-36 lead into the final period.
Billingsley scored 10 of Sweetwater's 13 points in the final frame, with the other three coming from Davis.

Sweetwater and Lenoir City each scored 13 points in the final quarter to produce the final score.
Billingsley led the Wildcats in scoring with 24 points and Davis wasn't far behind with 18.
Joey Raby scored four points while Trent Walker scored three.

Sweetwater is scheduled to play Sequoyah tonight at 7:30 p.m.