Lady Tigers hold off Hatch

Demopolis (3-0) held off a late R.C. Hatch rally for a 48-38 win Friday night despite shooting a paltry 10-of-31 from the free throw line.

“Obviously it is going to be an area of focus for us the next couple of days. We have got to get focused, get to the line and make free throws and we didn’t do that tonight and we made it a close ball game,” Demopolis head coach Tony Pittman said.

The Lady Tigers led by three possessions most of the night before free throw woes coupled with turnover problems allowed the visiting Lady Bobcats to cut the deficit to 34-30 with 6:55 to go in the contest.

After a brief timeout, Demopolis righted the ship to embark on a 14-4 run the rest of the way and put the contest away.

“It’s a credit to their defense. They did a lot of different things with their defense. Overall, I’m very pleased with our defensive effort. We just have to make sure we do a better job of getting on the boards and don’t let them get the second and third shots,” Pittman, whose Lady Tigers were outrebounded 36-28, said.

Jonniece Collins led all scorers with 18 points on the night, most of which came on a stretch in which she eight of her first nine shot attempts from the floor. Collins also contributed five rebounds, five steals and three assists on the night.

“That’s expected of her. She’s a senior. She’s been through the wars. She knows what it takes. She’s going to be aggressive the whole ball game. You’ve just got to sit back and let her play her game and she did that tonight,” Pittman said of his senior point guard.

Freshman Ivery Moore added nine points for the Lady Tigers. Caleb Washington led Demopolis in rebounding with nine.

Kalasha Patterson kept Hatch in the game with 13 points and 12 rebounds before fouling out with 4:14 to go in the game. Patterson did the majority of her damage from the charity stripe, going 9-for-16 from the free throw line.

Shamonica Ward added eight points and 15 rebounds for R.C. Hatch while Marcissie Howard had nine points and five steals.