Lady Indians put the Lady Bulldogs in the Doghouse

On Thursday, January 4, the Hayti Lady Indians hosted the Lady Bulldogs of Portageville. The Lady Indians were 1-8 going into the matchup with the 2-5 Lady Bulldogs. Each team had something to prove on the court. Thursday night, Hayti proved it is a team to be reckoned with winning over Portageville, 51-48. When asked about the matchup of the two teams, Coach Rogers stated, “…Those girls, they are always well coached and very disciplined. I think we are finally starting to figure it out that if you are the first to strike then we put ourselves in a position to compete against good teams and tonight that is what we did. We have had some really good, tough practices and they are starting to translate to the game, I told the girls to just have fun and play hard and they came out and did it I am really proud of them.”

The game started with Portageville taking the tip-off, but Hayti took the first points. The Lady Bulldogs didn’t waste any time catching up with Hayti, they quickly caught up and from that point forward the two teams battled back and forth on scoring, rebounding and free-throws. Both teams were very defensive. Portageville took advantage early of some steals, but Hayti didn’t let that kill their spirit. Portageville had a large lead early on, but Hayti kept battling. They made up some ground and eventually went up slightly before Portageville regained a small lead. The two teams battled back and forth before Hayti managed to take the lead for the final time just before the half. The teams went into the locker room with Hayti in the lead 25-20.

The second half started with the two teams storming onto the court. The back and forth momentum from the first half continued into the second, with Hayti showing cleaner passes and more defensive rebounding. Both teams showed their competitive spirits and the momentum of the game picked up. Each team making 3-point shots and success on the free throw line. The score at the end of the third showed Hayti only up by five points. The momentum continued into the fourth period. Tensions rose as the two teams really made use of their rebounds and free throws. Portageville made several unanswered baskets narrowing the Hayti lead and intensifying the competition. Hayti finally answered the scores and regained their advantage. Portageville didn't give up but answered with 3-point shots keeping the score close. The final seconds of the game saw Hayti put the game away with a 51-48 win.

When asked about the difference between the first and second half of the game, Coach Rogers said, “During halftime I told the girls that I felt like we were rushing things in such a manner that we were getting unforced turnovers, Coach Jackson and I figured they were going to try to speed up the game by going to a man to man defense, so we made the adjustments for that and it worked perfectly. The main thing was REBOUNDING I told them the team that wins the rebounding battle will be victorious and my girls came out and got rebounds.”

Top players:

Shabrika Hubbard: 9 points 14 rebounds 3 defensive Charges

Ton’Quasha Hayes: 17 points (Two 3 Pointers) 5 rebounds

Charity Wilson: 7 points (One 3 pointer) 5 rebounds

Sabrina Stelzer: 6 points 9 rebounds

Tanisha Taylor: 7 points (One 3 pointer) 3 rebounds

Ash’ley Farmer: 5 points