THS endures Pine Tree with 56-46 victory
For a half Wednesday at Tiger Center, Texas High played like a team bent on revenge. The other half was a completely different story.
Fortunately for the Lady Tigers, the first half was better than the second was bad, enabling them to avenge their only District 14-4A loss with a 56-46 win over Pine Tree.
In a near-perfect first two quarters, which included zero team fouls on the Tigers, Texas High sped to a 34-6 lead at intermission. However, the Lady Pirates came out with a vengeance of their own in the third quarter, outscoring the Tigers 24-9 in the third quarter before settling for a 21-point deficit going into the final eight minutes.
“Give them some credit; that team did not quit,” said THS coach Vince Minter, whose team improved to 23-3 overall and 7-1 in league play. “I think our intensity went down, and they started to get some open looks. We also got out of our offense and took some erratic shots.”
The Pirates continued their onslaught in the fourth quarter, opening on an 18-2 run that trimmed the deficit to 45-41 with 3:15 left before K. T. Davis braked the THS skid with a 3-pointer from beyond the key. But PT’s Daveisha Patterson answered with her third trey of the period to cut the Tiger lead to four points once more.
However, Pine Tree would get no closer, and with the lead at 52-46, Davis and LaMonica Morgan came up with the game’s key play, doubling up on a Pine Tree player and forcing a turnover, which resulted in a left-handed layup by Morgan with 28 seconds remaining.
“No question that was the key turnover of the game,” Minter said. “I think LaMonica may have played her best game of the year. She’s really good offensively, and tonight she contributed a lot on offense (10 points).”
Texas HIgh’s pressure forced three Pine Tree turnovers in the final two minutes, and Chanell Hayes converted three of four freethrow attempts to seal the victory.
“We had some uncharacteristic turnovers in the second half, particularly in the fourth quarter,” Minter said. “But I think we did turn the energy back up there at the end when we needed it.”
Pine Tree looked like the team with no energy. The Pirates managed a single field goal in the first quarter, and just two in the second. Meanwhile, Texas High got 10 points from Hayes and six each from the other four starters. Minter did not substitute in the first half and only once in the second when Jalissa Trotter picked up her third foul two minutes into the third quarter. He also did not call a timeout during Pine Tree’s fourth-quarter run.
“In that kind of situation I like to see the girls play through it just to see if they can adjust,” he said. “Besides, I thought the other team was gassed. This was a good game for us going into the playoffs because it shows we have to play the whole game.”
Hayes led the Tigers with 20 points, and also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked three shots. Davis had 13 points and Morgan’s 10. Trotter had a team-high eight rebounds and led the team with five steals, one more than Davis and Morgan.
Pine Tree (14-12, 3-5) was led by Patterson’s 19 points and eight rebounds. Sky-Lynn Holmes, a 6-2 sophomore, scored 14 of her 16 points in the second half and finished with six rebounds.
The Tigers travel to Sulphur Springs on Friday before finishing the regular season at home Tuesday against Mount Pleasant in what could be a showdown for the district title.