Baby Shaq steps up again
Published 12:00 am Thursday, February 19, 2004
The Lady Tigers girls made coach Michelle Ivey two-for-two on the night.
After watching the Marion Military boys take their coach to tomorrow’s AISA State Title game with a 64-40 win over Lakeside, the Lady Tigers weren’t about to let their coach down.
They jumped out to an early lead on Coosa Valley and never looked back as they also took advanced, 46-26 Wednesday at Huntingdon College.
With the win, the Lady Tigers will play Warrior in the state title game Thursday.
After the rousing start, the Lady Tigers slowed down as Coosa Valley’s fans and some tight officiating seemed to knock MMI off track.
“You don’t know how freshmen in high school are going to react,” Ivey said. “Especially when they think the calls are going against them. I thought (the refs) called a good game, it was consistant both ways.”
After watching their lead dwindle to just 20-13 at the half, the Lady Tigers responded and put the game away quickly in the third quarter.
“We kept our composure extremely well and that’s what helped us,” Ivey said.
Once again Felecia Sprott led the MMI charge.
The sophomore post followed up her amazing 39-point, 35-rebound performance with another double-double. Despite foul trouble that kept her on the bench for most of the second half, Sprott finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
She also had five blocks.
She wasn’t alone.
Emily Easley hit a pair of long-range bombs and finished with 10 points.
Samantha Suttles got rolling the second half as she knifed through the lane for eight points.
She added four assists and five rebounds.
Yolanda Kelly had five points.
Jonika Smith added two points and eight rebounds.
Ashley Debrowski had a big game off the bench filling in for Sprott.
She had two points and six rebounds, all in the fourth quarter.
Molly Brasher led Coosa Valley with 10 points.
The Lady Tigers will play for the state title Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Huntingdon College in Montgomery.