DEMOPOLIS — Tony Pittman was very candid in assessing his team’s circumstances Monday afternoon. His team suffered a series of losses over the weekend.

The first such loss came during the team’s Friday night contest against area foe Carver. One of the team’s primary leaders, Kiera Carter, sustained a knee injury that caused her to miss the entire second half.

The second loss came when the final buzzer to that game sounded with Carver holding a 51-42 advantage on the scoreboard.

The third, and most testing loss came later that night when senior Valissa Sams suffered a death in the family that rocked Pittman’s close-knit group.

Still, despite it all, the girls returned to the floor Saturday to move to 4-1 with a 42-24 win over visiting Pickens County.

“With everything that was going on, I was proud of the way they responded,” Pittmas said of his team, which picked up the victory despite playing without Sams and Carter.

Pittman said his team’s Monday practice went well and that the girls’ focus seemed to be back on.

“Everybody was upbeat today,” Pittman said. “We had a good practice.”

The loss to Carver came at a time when Demopolis had an opportunity to move into the driver’s seat in the area.

“It hurt because we had a great opportunity to take a stand in the area with wins over Selma and Carver and both teams coming here.”

However, Pittman knew his team sealed its own fate Friday night when poor free throw shooting squandered an otherwise well-played game.

“I felt like we matched up very well with Carver,” Pittman said. “We were 5-of-33 from the free throw line. It was the worst free throw shooting performance I’ve seen since I’ve been coach.”

Pittman’s team will return to the floor Friday night when it hosts No. 3 ranked Selma.