To help motivate his players Saturday night, Andalusia girls coach Bennie Shellhouse didn’t have to say much leading up to his team’s 54-46 win over the Class 6A, No. 7 Dothan Lady Tigers at home.

“I read an article (Wednesdsay) in the (Dothan Eagle) and Dothan had scored 108 points on Headland the other night and (Dothan girls coach Debbie McCauley) said it wasn’t her place to keep the score down — that it was the other team’s place to stop them,” Shellhouse said. “So, I read it to the girls and said that our game plan was to stop them.”

And the Lady Bulldogs did. No. 9 Andalusia surged to a 22-11 lead after the first quarter and was still in the lead, 33-22, at halftime.

The Lady Bulldogs (18-5, 5-1 in Class 4A, Area 3) then outscored Dothan (18-2) 11-7 in the third quarter, before being outscored in the fourth, 17-11.

Shellhouse said it was his team’s defense that won the game.

“I played zone and stayed inside the whole night and let them shoot the ball,” he said. “We played well on the defensive side of the ball. We knew they were a good team, and we wanted to take the article serious and stop them.”

Alexis Horton led the Lady Bulldogs with 26 points.

Shi’Amber Townsend added 13 points and Erica King had seven points.

“One of Dothan’s guards is one of the best in Alabama, and Alexis took that as a challenge to make sure she knew how good (Horton) is,” Shellhouse said. “That was a big win for us (Saturday night).”

The Lady Bulldogs will be on the road all week, starting tonight at Brantley.

Shellhouse said it is crucial to have a good end to the regular season all this week and at home next Monday night against Carroll of Ozark.

“We’ve got Brantley on Tuesday night and that will be a tough game,” he said.

“We just want to finish the regular season strong and get better.”

Tonight’s game for the Lady Bulldogs will tip off immediately after the B-team boys.