Lady Tigers beat Lady Bulldogs to maintain hold on 4th place
WHITEWRIGHT — Despite a short roster due to injuries, the Whitewright Lady Tigers keep chugging along towards a playoff spot.
And despite coming off a stretch where they lost three of four games — all of the defeats to those in front of them in the standings — the Lady Tigers have been able to take care of business against the teams behind them to maintain a hold on one of the top four spots.
Whitewright added another one of those victories with a 39-27 win over Howe in District 11-3A action.
It took overcoming some foul trouble with just two reserves on the bench but the Lady Tigers grinded out enough offense in a game where both sides scored in single digits in three of the quarters.
“Kids are giving everything they have, working as hard as they can and they’re making it work,” Whitewright head coach David Guadiano said. “We’re keeping our identity by playing some really tough defense. We’re working hard, working together.”
Natalie Alexander scored 25 points while Raygan Latimer and Alice DeAssumpcao chipped in four points apiece for Whitewright (20-7, 5-4), which travels to Leonard on Tuesday.
After that rivalry contest the Lady Tigers face Blue Ridge, which is right behind Whitewright in the standings. The other three teams trying to rally are all at least three games back with five to play.
“We’ve got two big games coming up. They’re huge,” Guadiano said. “Leonard, then Blue Ridge, we need to be ready to play.”
Kendall Griffin scored seven points, Landery Sanders added six points and Jentrie Doty chipped in five points for Howe (8-20, 2-7), which hosts second-place Pottsboro on Tuesday night.
The Lady Bulldogs made only six shots while the Lady Tigers got just three baskets from the rest of their roster outside of Alexander making 12.
Early in the fourth quarter Howe put together a push but couldn’t get the margin into single digits. Doty hit a three and Teagan Stubblefield followed with a layin to trim the deficit to 32-22 with 6:10 remaining but it was as close as the Lady Bulldogs would get.
Whitewright had extended its lead to 30-17 through three quarters despite scoring only eight points because Howe managed just six.
“I’d like to see us be better on the offensive end,” Guadiano said.
Sanders scored underneath to open the frame before the Lady Bulldogs had a five-minute scoring drought. But when Emery Snapp ended it, Whitewright was up just 12. Alexander made two jumpers and hit two free throws while Zoie Stratton and Isabella DeAssumpcao hit single free throws to account for the offense from the Lady Tigers.
Alexander powered an 11-1 run to begin the second quarter and Whitewright built a 22-4 advantage on her three-pointer from the right wing halfway through the stanza.
But the Lady Tigers went cold the rest of the half, getting only an Alexander jumper in the final four-plus minutes before the break.
That gave Howe a chance to chip away at the deficit but the Lady Bulldogs didn’t make their first shot of the game until Matalee Stewart banked one home at the 2:20 mark of the second quarter.
Howe was relying on free throws at that point and went into the locker room down just 22-11.
Whitewright never trailed as it scored the first five points en route to a 9-3 lead after the first quarter by holding the Lady Bulldogs without a basket.
Alexander and Ashton Long had consecutive buckets in the middle of the frame while it took Howe five minutes to score when Griffin hit a pair of free throws. Even at that point, the Lady Bulldogs were down just 5-2.
Griffin had the only other point in the frame for Howe when she made a free throw with no time on the clock.
This article originally appeared on Herald Democrat: Lady Tigers beat Lady Bulldogs to maintain hold on fourth place
