Tigers rein in Lions
LONGVIEW, Texas—Texas High made a statement in the first quarter and never let up against John Tyler during its Class 5A bi-district girls basketball game.
The Lady Tigers shot better than 50 percent before intermission, finished with a 37 percent shooting percentage and routed the Lady Lions, 67-34, Monday at Lobo Coliseum.
“The girls came out in the first quarter and made a statement,” Texas High head coach Shonda Wilson said. “I had told them to get on the gas early and stay on it, and they did just that. We forced quite a few turnovers and converted them into quick points.
“(Antonia) Porter get going early, and we had a balanced scoring, which is what we want to see. It was a good first playoff game.”
Four THS players scored at least eight points, led by Antonia Porter’s 20 points and Kerrighan Dunn’s 14 for the Tigers (25-7).
Texas High forced 32 turnovers, the majority in the first half, committed 18 of
its own, and won the rebounding battle, 42-30. The Tigers were 25-of-68 shooting from the field.
John Tyler (17-17) shot 33 percent on 13-of-40 shooting and never mounted a serious comeback attempt.
Late in the game Texas High was able to use its entire bench, including the three junior varsity payers pulled up for the postseason roster.
“Those young girls got in there and let me see that they weren’t going to shy away from the moment,” Wilson said. “When they were called on, they got out there and played hard.”
The Tigers shot 53 percent in the first half and opened the game on a 10-0 rally. Following the Lions’ initial basket, coming with 5:59 left in the first, Texas High went on a 9-point run, and it’s lead was never single digits the rest of the way.
Porter had 11 points in the first quarter, draining a trio of 3-pointers, for the Tigers, and Dunn scored 10 in the first half, when THS held a 39-18 halftime lead.
John Tyler struggled with Texas High’s pressure defense and speed, especially early. The Tigers forced 11 turnovers in the opening quarter and led by 20 (27-7) at the first break.
Porter needled a pass across the lane to Ashlyn Stiger, who had an easy layup for Texas High with 3:48 left in the second quarter to go up 35-12. From that point JT closed the half on a 6-4 run.
Amiyah Rone and Mia Wilson contributed eight points apiece for the Tigers in the game, and Vicki Willis led the team on the glass with six boards. Asia Parker paced the Lions with 11 points.
“We still have work to do (for the area round, later this week),” the coach said. “We’ve got to keep working hard in practice. We’ve got to get better at rebounding, and we didn’t do our best at the free throw line. We can’t take anything for granted at this point of the season.”
Texas High advances to the area round to face either Cleburne or Lancaster.