Lady Tigers down Thomasville
The Demopolis Lady Tigers kept their hot streak going Thursday night, rolling over Thomasville 50-21 in the follow-up to Monday’s emotional, come-from-behind victory over area rival Central-Tuscaloosa.
“I challenged them coming out of the locker room to take the last few minutes of our previous ball game and take it a little further. We came out on fire defensively and we were able to create some easy shots for us,” Demopolis coach Tony Pittman said of his team’s fast start. “It sets the tone for the whole ball game. That’s the way we want to play. That’s the way we’re going to play. Teams are just going to have to adjust to what we do. And that’s what we try to do to take control of the ball game.”
Demopolis sprinted out to a 17-4 lead through the first quarter of play before the Lady Tiger regulars showed some signs of wear during the second period of play.
“I think we had a little lag from that game (Monday),” Pittman said. “But I have my ways of getting them ready to play. We went into halftime and talked about some things. We were able to come out and set up our press and get some easy shots.”
Demopolis hung 18 more points on the board in the third quarter and cruised its way to a running clock in the fourth quarter to ice the win.
Darnesha Harris anchored the performance for Demopolis with 14 points, eight rebounds and five steals.
“I challenged her in practice. She hadn’t been playing the way I wanted her to play, the way the team needed her to play,” Pittman said of Harris. “She had a great practice yesterday and it carried over to tonight.”
Shakesaney Bell added nine points, six steals and five assists. Sylvia Clayton had eight points, three rebounds and three assists. Aniya Johnson added seven points.
Alexandria Newberry led Thomasville (8-9) with six points and six rebounds.
Demopolis (15-5) wraps its regular season Friday when it hosts Greene County for Senior Night.
“A little more patience on offense, continue to set the tone defensively and we want to look to get some easy shots underneath the basket with our post players to get them involved and let’s see what happens,” Pittman said of what he hopes to see from his team during its final tune-up before next week’s Class 5A, Area 7 tournament.