Saturday afternoon, the Andalusia Lady Bulldogs will try for another trip to the Class 4A South Regional tournament as they face Jackson in the sub-regional tournament at Andalusia.

Andalusia coach Bennie Shellhouse said he knows what type of team Jackson is based on their previous opponents.

“The opponents we’ve face together have been Thomasville and Clarke County, but they have been beaten by them both times,” he said. “The second game was a lot closer than the first game, which means they’ve gotten a lot better throughout the year.”

But, Jackson isn’t the only team to improve throughout the season.

The Lady Bulldogs (23-5) have won the last 21 games out of 22 this season.

“We were 2-4 at the beginning of the season,” Shellhouse said. “We’ve played some tough competition with the Class 6A schools. That’s made us be competitive all the way through the season.

“Playing teams like (Class 5A) Carroll-Ozark, Enterprise and Dothan,” he said. “That really kind of makes you work hard. So, we’ve progressively gotten better as the year went on.”

Shellhouse said the focus this week has been to play good defense in Saturday’s game.

“Jackson has one girl that we need to keep off the boards,” he said. “If we can do that, then we’ll be fine.

“They’re kind of like Clarke County in a way,” he said. “They don’t do a full court press, and we’ve got to keep them off the boards. They’re going to keep the ball inside.”

Other than the normal nicks and bruises, the Lady Bulldogs are in good health, Shellhouse said.

“We are really excited,” he said about the game Saturday. “We have an opportunity to go back to the regional tournament two years in a row. They (the Lady Bulldogs) haven’t done that in a while. It’s a good opportunity for us.”

Tip off Saturday is at 1 p.m. in the AHS gym.