Lady Tigers hold off Greenville

Demopolis withstood a late Greenville run to pick up a key 50-39 area win Thursday.

DHS led 27-12 at halftime and saw Greenville cut the deficit to 34-21 after three quarters of play.

Near the end of the first half, DeeDee White went down with what appeared to be an eye injury. White left the game with five points to her credit and did not return. Demopolis scarcely recovered.

“We lost a ball handler and a person who normally has the ball in her hand a lot. It was a struggle for us for the remainder of the game. I chalk it up as a lack of focus,” Demopolis coach Tony Pittman said.

Tenacious defense put visiting Greenville back in the game with a 16-8 run that saw the Demopolis lead dwindle to 42-37 midway through the fourth quarter.

“They put some pressure on us and they didn’t respond the way I felt like we should have. Second half, we didn’t do anything right. It’s like I told them, ‘We survived, so that says something about your character,’” Pittman said.

After Pittman called a timeout, Demopolis finished the game on an 8-2 advantage to seal the win.

“Anytime a game is going like that, you’re up big and you lose a lead like that, the main thing that I told them was ‘Go back to your basics. Go back to the things that got you the lead,’” Pittman said. “We were able to go back and lock down on defense and create some shots for yourself and score some baskets. Through the course of the season, you’re going to have some games like that and it was a true test of our character tonight, especially for our young players because they had to play quite a bit. We were able to get a win. I was very pleased with that.”

Caleb Washington led all scorers with 16 points while Erica Bennett added 14 for Demopolis.

Shaq Rudolph paced Greenville with 11 points while Deondra Rudolph had eight points.

Demopolis (12-9, 3-1) keeps control of its own destiny in area play with the win as the Lady Tigers still have contests with Sumter Central and Selma remaining on the schedule.