Lady Tigers score 20th win of season

The Demopolis Lady Tigers (20-6) snagged their 20th win of the season Friday night, downing rival Linden 46-29.

“It’s big for this program. That’s means we’re getting back to the elite way we play,” Demopolis coach Tony Pittman said. “It’s something that is always a goal, to win 20 games. All that is preparation for the area tournament and things to come.”

Demopolis led Linden 22-8 after one quarter of play and spent much of the rest of the game relying heavily on younger players.

The defensive effort of Demopolis frequently proved too suffocating for the Lady Patriots, who were held scoreless in the second quarter until Tomysha Boykin hit a turnaround jumper with 1:56 left in the period.

“That’s the thing that we’re preaching right now. We’re really focusing on, great defense, being able to move our feet, being in great position and limiting teams to one shot. You can see that even in our young people tonight,” Pittman said.

The win came despite the absence of 6-1 senior Caleb Washington, who missed the contest due to an injury.

“Caleb being a big on the post, she does a great job. But when she’s out, we can speed the game up a little bit and do some different things,” Pittman said. “We’re going to miss her, but I still feel very confident that we can pick right up and march on with (Ebony Moore) and (Darnesha Harris) in that position.”

Shakesaney Bell led the Lady Tigers with 13 points, proving the only player to score in double digits for Demopolis.

“She did a great job. She’s very aggressive going to the basket. If she gets a couple of layups, it opens up her outside shooting,” Pittman said. “To be a ninth grader and to have that type of production for us is going to be big going down the stretch.”

Imiya Agee led Linden with 11 points while Boykin had nine.

The Lady Tigers are set to wrap up the regular season Monday at Selma before hosting the Class 5A, Area 6 tournament next week.

“Defense, getting better on defense. Execution on offense and just being consistent in everything we do,” Pittman said “Anytime you run up against a good basketball team like Selma and the teams to come, it’s going to be the teams that do the small things the best.”