The Minden Crimson Tide and Lady Tiders traveled to Haughton Tuesday for a pair of games with their rivals. The Crimson Tide came out on top in their game, while the Lady Tiders fell to the Lady Bucs.
The Crimson Tide controlled their game from the early going, using pressure defense and good ball movement to sink the Bucs, 73-47.
“I was pretty pleased with the effort tonight,” head coach Alan Shaw said. “It was much more of a team effort. I thought we played pretty well defensively. We pressed and did a good job of shutting down their two main players. On offense, it was a lot better as far as finding the open man and distributing the basketball.”
The Tide jumped out to a 16-8 lead after one quarter of play. That lead expanded to 17 by halftime and by the end of the third quarter Minden had the game well in hand, leading 57-35.
“It’s a good win to get us back on track before the holiday,” Shaw said. “A lot of guys really stepped up and played their role and played them well.”
Anfernee Red led Minden with 23 points, followed by L’Jarius Sneed with 14 points and Kevin Hamilton with 10 points.
In the Lady Tider game, turnovers were the story, as Minden committed 36 turnovers on the night.
“We got to take better care of the basketball,” Lady Tider head coach Jacob Brown said. “There’s nothing more valuable than that basketball. It can keep us in games or take us out of them.”
Despite 17 first half turnovers, the Lady Tiders only trailed by 5 at halftime and actually took the lead early in the third quarter, 31-29.
“I thought we picked it up in the second quarter,” Brown said. “We chipped away and actually took the lead, but the mistakes hurt us.”
The Lady Tiders committed 19 more turnovers in the final half of play to finish the game, falling behind in the final quarter and sealing the game for Haughton.
“The effort is there,” Brown said. “Just a few bad lapses cost us. When you commit 36 turnovers, that’s the game right there. I feel like the potential is there. We battled and competed tonight.”
Tiaga Pugh led the team with 11 points, Jazmine Goodman and Delorea McClendon each added 10 points and Brandi Cosby finished with 9 points for the Lady Tiders.