First quarter play saves Lady Tigers

Published 12:00 am Thursday, January 31, 2008

DEMOPOLIS &8212; In the opening eight minutes of their game against Livingston High School, the Demopolis Lady Tigers looked unbeatable.

The group was in double digits before their opponent managed to find the bottom of the basket for the first time and out played Livingston 21-4 in the opening quarter. Then the second quarter started, and Demopolis&8217; scoring all but ended.

The Lady Tigers&8217; bench, a group Pittman has tried to get involved before the start of the playoffs, hit the court in the second quarter. But Pittman pulled the group half way through when it became apparent they couldn&8217;t produce offensively.

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But the damage was done and the tailspin began. The Lady tigers only scored three points to Livingston&8217;s 10 in the quarter but still had a respectable 24-14 lead heading into the half.

The defense of Livingston continued to hold Demopolis as the visiting offense chipped away at the lead further in the third period. Neither group put up large numbers, though, in the period, as Demopolis retained the lead 29-21 in the final frame.

The dry Demopolis scoring well went deep into the fourth period. As Livingston approached the Demopolis lead, missed shots continued to plague the Tigers, and the group&8217;s first points of the quarter came off the fifth free throw attempt for the group in the final period with 3:24 to play.

The first real shot for the group fell with three minutes left and provide the group the catalyst to hang on. Demopolis only grabbed three more points down the stretch, but they were enough to keep the lead at the final tick with the score 35-30.

Demopolis hit only 6-of-17 from the free throw line, 2-of-9 in the fourth period. Leading scorers were Vanika Williams with nine, Jasmine Simmons with eight and Jasmine Hardy with seven.

Vanquacious Otis, for Livingston, was 5-of-6 from the line and had 12 points in the game. Juliser Harper was the second place contributor for the group with 10.