MOBILE – The Demopolis High School Lady Tigers varsity girls’ basketball team is making a return trip to Birmingham after knocking off Montevallo, 55-42, on Saturday morning at the University of South Alabama.

With the win, the Lady Tigers advance to the state semifinals to take on Deshler tomorrow at noon in Birmingham.

Leading the way for DHS was Gabrielle Essex with 24 points, seven assists, seven steals, and six rebounds.

The Lady Tigers move to 27-1 on the season and now look ahead to a rematch against Deshler after losing to them, 72-55, in last year’s final.

Katerria Johnson chipped in with 16 points and six rebounds for DHS and Keli Johnson contributed with nine points.

After one period of action, the Lady Tigers found themselves down 14-10, but DHS was able to regroup and walk away with a 13-point victory.

With 5:39 remaining in the second period, DHS went on a 19-5 run and never looked back, holding onto a 30-21 lead at halftime.

The Lady Tigers began the fourth and final period on top 39-32 and Montevallo cut the lead to eight points on several occasions, but never got any closer.

Demopolis shot 44.7 percent from the field, draining 21 shots on 47 attempts, as Montevallo also shot 44.7 percent from the field on 17-for-38 shooting but committed 31 turnovers.

The Lady Tigers, meanwhile, had only 16 turnovers in the game.