The Lady Tigers stepped onto the battle ground of their host and arch rival Lady Bulldogs of Beach Friday afternoon prepared for the battle between the ferocious female cats and dogs.
Twice these teams faced each other and twice they battled to the bitter end, splitting victories and trading places for first and second place in their region.
But the Bulldogs let Monique Willis and Khalilah Watson run free and together they put in 38 of the Lady Bulldogs’ 54 points. Willis ended the night with 20-points and Watson with 18.
The Lady Tigers never gave up and tried their best to narrow the often 10-point or more deficit. In the second half Jammie McLemore ignited the offense with two three-pointers and Brytnii Speight followed suit with several key rebounds, steals and baskets, closing the gap to seven.
“She played her heart out in the second half,” Lady Tiger coach Faye Baker said about Speight. “She stepped up in the second half like we wanted her to and she made some key baskets. I was really proud of her tonight.”
Speight was emotionally invested in bringing her team back from behind, but fouled out. Drained, she made it to the bench where she buried her face in a towel.
“I thought we did a good job defensively,” Baker said. “Offensively we just couldn’t get it going. Again that is a tribute to Beach’s defense.”
During her post game speech, Baker did what she could to make her team realize they still accomplished a lot this season.
“I reminded them that our team is young,” she said. “We have a lot of young kids. We won 20 games this season and I told them anytime you can win 20 games in a season, that’s a great season. I’m very proud and we are still one of only four teams left in our region that is still playing and that is a great accomplishment. These young players now have an opportunity to see what a state competition is like and I hope they learn from it and get better for next season.”
The Lady Tigers had secured a spot at state with their record and were set to return to Savannah to tip-off against another formidable foe, Jenkins High, Saturday afternoon. The winner gets seeded at third for state in their 3-AAAAA region.
Twice these teams faced each other and twice they battled to the bitter end, splitting victories and trading places for first and second place in their region.
But the Bulldogs let Monique Willis and Khalilah Watson run free and together they put in 38 of the Lady Bulldogs’ 54 points. Willis ended the night with 20-points and Watson with 18.
The Lady Tigers never gave up and tried their best to narrow the often 10-point or more deficit. In the second half Jammie McLemore ignited the offense with two three-pointers and Brytnii Speight followed suit with several key rebounds, steals and baskets, closing the gap to seven.
“She played her heart out in the second half,” Lady Tiger coach Faye Baker said about Speight. “She stepped up in the second half like we wanted her to and she made some key baskets. I was really proud of her tonight.”
Speight was emotionally invested in bringing her team back from behind, but fouled out. Drained, she made it to the bench where she buried her face in a towel.
“I thought we did a good job defensively,” Baker said. “Offensively we just couldn’t get it going. Again that is a tribute to Beach’s defense.”
During her post game speech, Baker did what she could to make her team realize they still accomplished a lot this season.
“I reminded them that our team is young,” she said. “We have a lot of young kids. We won 20 games this season and I told them anytime you can win 20 games in a season, that’s a great season. I’m very proud and we are still one of only four teams left in our region that is still playing and that is a great accomplishment. These young players now have an opportunity to see what a state competition is like and I hope they learn from it and get better for next season.”
The Lady Tigers had secured a spot at state with their record and were set to return to Savannah to tip-off against another formidable foe, Jenkins High, Saturday afternoon. The winner gets seeded at third for state in their 3-AAAAA region.