At times, it wasn’t pretty. But, Minden got the job done in the Lady Tiders’ 57-42 win over Haughton on Monday night in Haughton.
“We defended really well in the first half,” Minden head coach Jacob Brown said. “In man-to-man in the first half, we were really good. We had to adjust because of foul trouble but I was really pleased.”
Minden started the game on an 11-2 run. The Lady Tiders have consistently started games with a high defensive energy that has led to easy points on offense.
“We handled the full-court pressure well, moving the ball and getting high percentage looks near the rim,” Brown said.
Haughton began to pressure the ball all over the court, and led to a number of Minden turnovers.
Until the Lady Tiders get senior guard Bre Rodgers back from foot injury, Brown will have to cope with turnovers.
In the third quarter specifically, Haughton pushed to get back in the game. Minden’s lead was cut to 35-24 with three minutes left in the third.
“They got in the double bonus and stayed in the game,” Brown said. “We didn’t finish defensive possessions either.”
Derrica Gilbert took over in the fourth. She made a layup to start the quarter, then another basket near the hoop for an and-one to put Minden back up 15.
Gilbert finished with 19 points as the Lady Tiders held off the Lady Bucs to improve to 5-1 this year.
Destini Powell had 14 points for Minden, who play at Lakeside next on Nov. 27.
In the boys game, the Tide used a season-high 13 three-pointers to cruise to an easy 81-36 win over Haughton.
“We were able to put four quarters together to help us get where we needed to be,” Minden head coach Rennie Bailey said. “We rebounded the ball well, defended at a high level and shot the ball well at the free-throw line.”
Curtis Carter led the Tide with 24 points including six threes.
Kendrick Crawford added 12 points for Minden and 10 rebounds.
“Kendrick did well offensively and rebounded the ball at a high level,” Bailey said.
Minden used a 2-3 zone to frustrate Haughton. Bailey said that their experience playing each other in the summer proved a zone would be effective against the Bucs poor shooting.
“The zone was very effective for us and we were able to rebound out of it as well,” Bailey said.
Minden shot 74 percent at the free-throw line after struggling to a 3-for-12 night at the stripe against Doyline in last week’s loss to the Panthers.
Minden’s boys play a Gibsland-Coleman tonight.