Girls teams ready for South Sub Regional
Published 12:01 am Thursday, February 14, 2013
![Straughn’s Jacie Williamson (10) tries for a block on Opp’s Nisha Stoudemire (middle) during the Class 3A, Area 2 championship game. | Andrew Garner/Star-News](https://www.andalusiastarnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2013/02/0214-spt-jacie-nisha-taylor.jpg)
Straughn’s Jacie Williamson (10) tries for a block on Opp’s Nisha Stoudemire (middle) during the Class 3A, Area 2 championship game. | Andrew Garner/Star-News
Straughn, Opp and Pleasant Home will be in action tonight for the girls South Sub Regional.
The Lady Tigers host T.R. Miller and OHS travels to Cottage Hill in Mobile in Class 3A, while the Lady Eagles visit Brantley for the Class 1A contest.
Opp and Pleasant Home tip off at 7 p.m. in their games. Straughn tips at 6 tonight.
Each team needs a win tonight in order to advance to the South Regional Tournament next week in Dothan.
For ninth-ranked SHS (29-2), still playing right now is a great thing, girls coach Scott Kinsaul said.
“We’re glad to be playing at home,” Kinsaul said. “We had a tough game Monday night and survived (in a 37-28 win over Opp for the Class 3A, Area 2 championship).
“The reward of that is to play at home (tonight) in front of a great home crowd,” he said. “We’re looking forward to 6 o’clock being here. We’re excited.”
T.R. Miller is 4-17 overall this season, with three of its wins coming against winless W.S. Neal.
Kinsaul admitted it’s hard to not look ahead.
“I told my girls (Wednesday) that (T.R. Miller) already beat somebody they shouldn’t have beat,” he said. “They have a great coach, who has won championships. We have to be ready to play. I think they’re focused and ready to go for tomorrow.”
Opp (19-4) will play Cottage Hill (19-9).
Cottage Hill has Jana Hendrix, who led her team with 18 points in her team’s 48-23 win over T.R. Miller.
“We’re looking forward for the girls to go out and play to the best of their ability,” OHS coach SaRhonda Dickerson said. “We really want to stay focused on the task at hand. If we go out and compete and play our game, then we should be fine.”
The Lady Bobcats’ goal from the start of the season has always been to play on March 2 at 9 a.m. in the state championship game, Dickerson said.
“That’s our long-term goal,” she said. “We need to fulfill our short-term goals first. Our first short-term goal is to beat Cottage Hill (tonight).”
Pleasant Home (14-11) is playing a strong and quick Brantley Lady Bulldogs tonight.
Lady Eagles coach Kelley Garner said BHS can distribute the ball to anybody and they’ll more than likely get a bucket.
“We’re going to have our work cut out for us,” Garner said. “We’ve been practicing and preparing, so we’ll see what we can do with them.”
Garner said the girls know that Brantley will provide a full-court pressure.
“We’ve got to be able to get the ball down the floor,” she said. “And, at times, if we are able to beat the press, we’ve got to be able to put all of that together and score offensively at the same time.”
PHS played Brantley in its second game this season. The Lady Eagles cut the game to 28-22 at halftime, but the Lady Bulldogs shot late 3-pointers and ended up winning by 25.
Garner said she knows her team can compete with BHS, and that there’s no way her girls are looking ahead.
“We know we have a huge challenge ahead of us,” she said. “If we’re fortunate to come out on top, then we’ll look ahead. At this point in time, if you look ahead, it’ll cost you. Right now, we’re focused on Brantley this week.”