A loss? Not something the Demopolis Lady Tigers are used to. A losing streak? Judging by Tuesday night, not something the Lady Tigers are even going to consider.

Demopolis rebounded nicely from last week’s surprising loss to Thomasville, going on the road to defeat the Francis Marion Lady Rams 48-31 Tuesday night. The win, Demopolis’s second over FMHS after a season-opening 74-41 victory Nov. 29, improved the Lady Tigers to 3-1 on the season.

Demopolis outscored Francis Marion in every quarter, slowly extending a 13-5 first quarter lead to 25-16 at halftime and 34-21 after three quarters.

The difference in the game, according the Demopolis head coach Tony Pittman, was the Lady Tigers’ improved effort hitting the boards. Senior forward Katerria Johnson pulled down 14 rebounds to go with 19 points, giving her a double-double. For the game, Demopolis grabbed 41 boards, including 16 on the offensive end.

“I was very pleased with our rebounding effort,” Pittman said. “Starting the ballgame, there were two things we wanted to focus on. One was our halfcourt defense, and the other was to limit them to one shot. For the most part we were able to do that.”

Pittman gave the Lady Rams credit for cutting back on the turnovers and fast-break baskets that helped Demopolis win the first game by an even wider margin than the second, but said his team made adjustments as well and did a good job of keeping turnovers down as well. One factor in that was the play of freshman point guard Shay Smith, who had a successful Lady Tiger debut.

“She didn’t score,” Pittman said of Smith, “but I was very pleased with how she handled the basketball.”

Johnson was the only Lady Tiger in double figures, but was followed closely by Shawnese Armstead and Kelli Johnson (bouncing back from a scoreless game against Thomasville) with 8 points each. Jasmine Hardy finished with 6, Kierra Plaskett with 4, and Jasmine Simmons with 2.