Lady Tigers maul Longview, 61-33
TEXARKANA, Texas — Texas High doubled its lead with a 13-point run over the end of the third quarter and five minutes into the fourth to pull away from Longview.
The Lady Tigers forced 25 of the Lady Lobos’ 43 turnovers after intermission, and all but one player scored for THS as it improved to 3-1 in District 15-5A play with a 61-33 win at Tiger Center Tuesday.
Texas High (7-5, 3-1) finished with a 33 percent field goal percentage on 25-of-77 shooting. The Tigers won the battle of the glass (49-37) and turnovers (20-43). All but freshman Zoe Vanderhoof — one of the leading scorers in the ninth grade game earlier Tuesday — scored in the varsity game.
“We have to learn to start faster, and we’ve talked about that,” Texas High head coach Shonda Wilson said. “Once we get going, we’re pretty tough, but we need to start that earlier in the game.
“Zoe is a freshman, and so this pace of game is different for her. But it’s good to have this type of game, where you can get the younger players in the game and let them gain some experience. We had a lot of girls do a good job, whether it was from a starting role or off the bench.”
The Tigers added to their 10-point halftime lead with a 4-point rally to start the third quarter and answered a 4-point run by Longview with seven straight points to go up 41-24.
Texas High led 43-29 through three quarters and scored the first 11 points of the fourth to go ahead 25 points (55-29) with 4:38 remaining in the game.
Jacia Collins scored 16 points to pace the Tiger offense, and Amari Morrison added 11 points. Cashlin Gooden had eight points, and Delana Augustus pulled down seven rebounds to lead Texas High. Ashanti Northcross, Emma Prince and Morrison contributed six boards apiece.
After the Lobos took their second lead (7-6) of the first quarter, THS scored six consecutive points to go up 12-7 in the final minute of the period. Texas High never trailed again.
Up 12-8 to start the second
quarter, the Tigers scored the first four points and extended that streak to 12-3 to take a 24-11 advantage with 4:21 left in the
opening half.
The teams traded 4-point runs, Longview nailed a 3-pointer, and the teams each
scored once more before intermission, when Texas High led 30-20.
Seven different Tigers scored in the first half, and they shot 42 percent from the field compared to 35 percent by the Lobos.
“We feel good about where we are as a team right now, and we know we still have some work to do,” Wilson said. “We’re working on getting better. We’ve got to clean up those turnovers and keep attacking the boards.”
Kyra Taylor led Longview with eight points and eight rebounds.
Texas High won both sub-varsity games, including a 47-17 thrashing in the junior varsity contest. Anna Shultz scored 12 for the Tigers, and Anasia Wilcox added eight.
THS’ freshmen team won, 41-37, with Senae Walker pouring in 17 points and Zoe Vanderhoof 12.