Youthful Lady Tigers battle for season-opening win over Keith
Tony Pittman knew before his team took to the floor Tuesday night for its home opener that inexperience would be a key theme in season’s early going. That inexperience showed itself for stretches as the Lady Tigers worked their way to an uneven 38-23 win over Keith.
“The first game jitters, rushing a lot of things instead of being patient and taking what the defense gives you,” Demopolis coach Tony Pittman said. “We didn’t do that the first half, primarily because of first game jitters.”
Demopolis closed the first quarter with an offensive flurry, carrying a 12-3 lead after the game’s first eight minutes. The offense sputtered soon thereafter as Demopolis managed only 15 points over the next two quarters of play.
“Every year you have a different team and you have to play to your strengths. Right now our strength is ball handling and bringing our post game along,” Pittman said. “Hopefully, after Christmas, you’ll see that start to gel and we’ll be a different team.”
Demopolis found consistency with the ball in the hands of Aniya Johnson. The sophomore guard calmed a frenetic and, occasionally, frantic group while scoring six points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out six assists.
Johnson found her greatest success as a passer on inlet passes to Samia Jackson, who finished with eight points and five rebounds in the post. Shakesaney Bell contributed eight points in the victory while A’Miracle Jones had six.
“A’Miracle did an outstanding job of doing work in the post. Samia did a good job,” Pittman said. “Shug Billingsley came off the bench and gave us some good, solid minutes. She didn’t do a lot in the scorebook, but it didn’t matter. She’s gaining that experience and I think she’s really going to help us in the season.”
Demopolis is set to travel to Class 6A Bessemer City Thursday night.
“We’re going back to the laboratory tomorrow and we’re playing again Thursday,” Pittman said. “Hopefully we’ll get better each and every ball game we go out.”