Tigerettes surge in 2nd half to defeat Lady Lopes

By Joshua Bray

Slatonite Intern

The Slaton Tigerettes won against the Abernathy Lady Lopes Tuesday night (Jan. 28) with a final score of the game was 44-37.

During the first half of the game, the Lady Lopes trailed just behind the Tigerettes on the scoreboard, ending the first half by only a three-point deficit.

Despite a constant lead throughout the game, by halftime the Lady Lopes began to close in on the Tigerettes, ending the first half with 19-16. During halftime, Coach Tiffany Potts gave the Tigerettes the advice they needed to be successful going into the second half of the game.

“At halftime we talked about our shot selection,” Potts said. “That when we were taking our time and getting the shots we wanted to shoot, good things were happening but when they were forcing us to play faster than we wanted to or take shots we didn’t want to take, then that was giving them the ball back. So, we wanted to hold onto the ball a little longer and take good high percentage shots.”

After halftime, the Tigerettes came out in force with a focused defense and were able to widen the gap to eight points by the third and secured the victory by the end of the fourth quarter with a seven-point lead.

Leading scorers were TK Robinson with 14, Kamryn Gibbs with 11, and Mary Jo Parker with seven. Zanady Coronado scored six, Andrea Moreno had four and Payton Potts scored two.

Potts said she was happy with how the game played out and the effort the team showed.

“I thought that we played really hard I thought our kids got after it and executed the game plan really well and just played really good team basketball,” Potts said after the win.

Potts said that the game plan heading into Tuesday night’s game was to stop the Lady Lopes from scoring inside the paint, and they knew number 12 for Abernathy would be one of their top scorers, so stifling her offense was key.

“I thought we did a really good job of that when the ball got on the floor. We did a good job of forcing them to pass the ball back,” Potts said.

Potts thought Kamryn Gibbs offense and Zanady Coronado’s defense were both difference makers throughout the night.

“I just thought Kamryn Gibbs had a fantastic game,” she said when she discussed stand out players from the game. “She’s just really emerged and found her confidence the last couple of games and just really takes command of our team on both ends of the floor, and defensively Zanady Coronado just gets after that ball and she makes great things happen because of her effort.”

In the team’s 35-54 loss against Idalou Jan. 31, top scorers were Parker with 13, Robinson with 10 and Coronado and 7.

The Tigerettes played Tuesday evening (Feb. 4) against Littlefield and will play Denver City Friday (Feb. 7), at home.

Friday will also be Senior Night, where senior players will be presented. Games begin at 6 p.m.

Results of the games will be reported in next week’s edition.