Coach Faye Baker said she is always pleased with a victory, especially a region one but was not pleased with the 23 turnovers and the missed opportunities at the net.

"I’m not satisfied with tonight’s performance at all," she said. "We missed a lot of chip shots and a lot of layups. There were missed assignments offensively and we just didn’t make good decisions."

Baker said her girls are not performing the way they were before the holiday break. She said the last four games lacked intensity and she told her squad things need to improve if they are going to stay on top. The decisive region game against Beach High is Tuesday.

The Lady Bulldogs are also undefeated in the region and with players like Monique Willis, who has committed to University of South Carolina, and Khalilah Watson, committed to the University of Alabama-Birmingham, coach Baker knows the toughest battles lay ahead.

"I told them everyone is going to be gunning for us," she said. "As well as Beach everyone will be gunning for us so we have to play a lot better. We were playing better team ball pre-holiday. Right now we are just not flowing like we did."

There was never more than six points separating the boys in a defensive battle to the bitter end when Pete Woodard’s Tiger squad held on, despite a late rally by the Knights with less than a minute left on the clock.

With 6.1 seconds left, DeAndre Ross dropped in one from the line and D’Sean Brown stole the ball for the final slam dunk of the night, giving the Tigers the final 65-59 victory.

"Overall we came out a little sluggish," Woodard said. "I noticed it while they were warming up. Sometimes things have a way of working in reverse. Sometimes we start our warm ups with a lot of intensity and you lose it once the game starts. I knew they were going to start the game off sloppy but I believed they were going to wake up as the game progressed and they did."

Woodard said a region win is always good and he thinks his squad is gelling to fill a gap left by sophomore standout Jordan Johnson, who, Woodard said, was asked to leave the team due to disciplinary reasons.

"They looked at him as a leader," he said. "Once they realized he was no longer part of the team they realized it was time for them to step up and they did. They are carrying the load and I’m very pleased with them."

The Tigers are 2-2 in region 3-AAAAA and 4-7 overall.

The boys were paced by Derrick Nesbitt who sank 17 points. Tony Coston had a double-double getting 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. D’Sean Brown chipped in 10 points and DeAndre Ross added 9. D.J. Felder had 5 rebounds and 2 blocks for the night.

Both Tiger squads were scheduled to play a non-region game at Brunswick last night. See Wednesday’s Courier for scores and updates.