Lady Tigers rip through Beauregard in record-setting performance
Demopolis is headed to the Class 5A Central Regional Tournament after a thrilling performance Tuesday night that saw the Lady Tigers thrash Beauregard 84-48.
The sub-regional round was in question for less than a quarter as Beauregard cut an early Demopolis lead to 5-3 before the Lady Tigers flipped a switch. An Erica Bennet 3-pointer off a DeeDee White assist followed by a White steal and layup capped an 8-0 Demopolis run and forced a Beauregard timeout with 4:36 to play in the opening quarter. It was all Demopolis from there.
The Lady Tigers led 27-11 at the end of the first quarter and had tallied seven threes in the frame. Bennett and Courtney Hill, the scoring stars of the evening, were in double figures after eight minutes of play.
The trend continued most of the night as Demopolis (23-3) stretched its advantage to 44-23 by halftime. Hill and Bennett’s shooting from deep buoyed the Lady Tigers as they combined for 15 of the team’s 16 triples on the evening. Hill’s eight threes stand as a program record according to Lady Tiger coach Tony Pittman, who has helmed the team for nearly two decades.
White also recorded a program record, tallying 20 assists in the game.
“She’s a very smart player. She knows where the ball is supposed to be. She loves to feed the hot shooter and we saw that tonight,” Pittman said. “Courtney got in a rhythm. Erica got in a rhythm. She was looking for them. She took control. I’ve preached and preached and preached that we’re going to go as our point guard goes. Tonight, she played well and we played well as a team.”
Hill finished the night with 29 points and 11 steals. Bennett was similarly impressive, putting up 24 points including seven threes to go along with eight assists and five steals.
“Awesome experience,” Pittman said of watching his guards rain shots from deep for most of the evening. “It’s almost like you’re sitting here watching it and you’re saying, ‘Can you believe that it’s going on.’ The thing about it is they shoot those shots in practice everyday. We preach ‘rhythm, rhythm, rhythm. Shoot the ball in rhythm. Shoot the ball in rhythm.’ When you shoot the ball in rhythm, great things happen. The way we play, the up-tempo style, shooting the ball, putting the pressure on the defense; that’s just what we do. That’s what we’ve done from day one and we’re not going to deviate from it.”
Ivery Moore put in 12 points with four rebounds and four steals while White had 11 points and 20 assists with four steals.
The win polished off an unbeaten 2015-2016 record at home for that quartet of seniors.
“That’s real big for us,” Pittman said of the success his team found at home this season. “These girls have worked hard all year long. They put in the work during the summer. They came in and did the extra. It has paid off for us. Now we have an opportunity that we’ve worked so hard for and we have to make that step come Monday.”
The Lady Tigers also got big minutes from Samantha Williams, who led her team with seven rebounds.
“It’s about accepting the role. She knew going in what was expected of her,” Pittman said of Williams. “We wanted her to body (Beauregard center Chasity Pope), keep her off the boards and, for the most part, she did a good job.”
Pope led Beauregard with 16 points and nine rebounds. Kendretta Durham added 12 points and four rebounds for Beauregard.
Demopolis now turns its attention to Central-Tuscaloosa, its opponent in the first round of Monday’s Central Regional at Alabama State University in Montgomery.
“We’ve got to play the way we play. We can’t deviate from what we do. Play the way we play for four quarters at a high level and let’s see what happens,” Pittman said.
