The Minden Lady Tiders and head coach Jacob Brown feel like they let one slip away Tuesday night at The Palace.
The Woodlawn Lady Knights knocked down six 3-pointers and owned the offensive glass during large stretches of the contest. Still, the Lady Tiders had a 6-point lead late in the game, but Woodlawn closed out the final four minutes on a 18-7 run to claim a 69-64 win.
“Even after being down double digits tonight, our girls showed determination and effort to come back,” Brown said. “It says a lot about our team.”
The Lady Tiders started the fourth quarter on a 10-2 run to take a 56-51 lead with 4:15 in the game. The Lady Knights answered right away with a 7-0 run to retake the lead, but Minden answered right back with a Bre Rodgers layup to go up 59-58.
Minden missed a pair of free throws on their next possession and Woodlawn came down the court and drilled a 3-pointer to go up 61-59. Rodgers once again got into the lane to tie the ball game at 61, but in the final minute and change Woodlawn forced two Tide turnovers that led to two Knights layups as the visitors took a 65-61 lead under the one-minute mark.
Needing a bucket, Rodgers drove the baseline looking to score once again, but the shot fell off the rim and Woodlawn secured the rebound to essentially end the game.
Strawberry Batton led Minden with 21 points on the night, followed by Destini Powell with 15 and Whitney Aubrey with 14.
Minden vs. Woodlawn (boys)
The Minden Crimson Tide fell 79-54 against the Woodlawn Knights in the boys game Tuesday night at The Palace.
“I thought our guys competed hard for about 26 minutes of the game,” Minden head coach Rennie Bailey said. “It was 44-40 at that point, but from that point on we hit a wall.”
Turnovers began to doom the Tide and led to transition buckets for the Knights. Woodlawn came into the night in the top 10 of the Class 4A power rankings, a stark contrast from the rebuilding effort underway at Minden.
“We just got to keep plugging and stay on the positives and know that it’s going to happen for us,” Bailey said. “We just have to keep working.”
Jalone Branch scored 16 points to lead the Tide, followed by Jordan Becnel with 14 and Jalen Teal with 10.
Lakeside vs. Lakeview (boys)
SIBLEY – The Lakeside Warriors were in good shape at halftime of Tuesday’s clash with Lakeview, but the Gators outplayed the Warriors in the second half for a 63-51 victory.
“It was a pretty good battle, especially in the first half,” Lakeside head coach Jason Gould said.
Lakeside fell behind 9-2 early but came back to lead after one quarter, 11-9.
The Warriors trailed by two at the half and thought they might have a chance to knock on the Gators, but Lakeview won the second half decisively to take the win.
Chase Mitchell scored 17 to lead the Warriors, followed by Jalen Gould with 13 and Damian Coleman with 10.
Glenbrook vs. Claiborne Academy (boys)
The Glenbrook Apaches dismantled the Claiborne Academy Rebels for the second time this season.
The Apaches locked down defensively against the Rebels and rode a big first-quarter scoring output to victory in a 64-32 win that keeps their unbeaten district record in tact.
“It was a really good effort on the defensive end,” Glenbrook head coach Jeff Dalton said. “We struggled offensively in the second and third quarter, but credit our guys for playing defense the way they did to get us through that stretch.”
Glenbrook scored 25 points in the first quarter, just seven shy of the Rebels total for the game.
Cade Conterez led the Apaches with 20 points, followed by Joseph Windham with 14, Da’maza Robinson with 11 and Mason Hood with 8.
Despite the win, Dalton said his team will need to step up their offensive output if they have hopes of making a run to the state tournament.
“We must get better in the halfcourt,” he said. “If we don’t and keep playing sloppy there won’t be a postseason run.”
Glenbrook vs. Claiborne (girls)
The Lady Apaches could not hang with the Lady Rebels in the girls’ contest, falling to Claiborne for the third time this season 45-21.
“We played hard, but it just wasn’t enough,” Glenbrook head coach Rendi Dillard said. “We are having trouble scoring, and when you can’t score it’s hard to win ball games.”
Senior Megan Sims led the Lady Apaches with 6 points. The rest of the Lady Apaches only combined for 15.