The LaSalle Lady Tigers had an early exit this season in the LHSAA girls basketball playoffs at the hands of District 3-1A foe Montgomery in the first round. LaSalle held the #19 seed and Montgomery held the #14 seed coming into the matchup last Thursday night, February 20. With the lower seed having home gym advantage, this third matchup of the season would be played in Montgomery. The Lady Tigers from LaSalle had lost the two previous contests between the teams.
Montgomery would end the Lady Tigers season with a 46-32 win, but there was not a doubt in the gym that when the final horn sounded, Montgomery knew that had been in a dog fight.
LaSalle would get in an early hole with cold shooting and Montgomery’s pressure defense. At the end of the first quarter LaSalle found themselves in an 11-point hole. The Lady Tigers would use good ball control to out play the press and a few shots started falling. The Lady Tigers were down at the halftime break by 15 points.
Coming out of the halftime break, the Lady Tigers picked it up a notch on defense and Montgomery started only getting one shot per trip. La-Salle would be led by Mattie Parham in rebounds they started the comeback. Lana Childress hit a couple of three pointers and Leanna Womack had several steals and layups to help LaSalle get within 8 points of Montgomery.
The fourth quarter would be the downfall for LaSalle as several Lady Tigers were in foul trouble and eventually fouled out. Montgomery would hit just enough of their free throws to keep the game out of reach. Montgomery did win the contest by 14 points, but the score does not indicate how hard the Lady Tigers played in the second half. They were able to cut the lead to 8 points on several different occasions in the fourth quarter. That 8-point mark was the Achilles heel, because once LaSalle would reach this point a crucial foul or turnover would happen to kill the momentum. However, the Lady Tigers have nothing to hang their heads about because their efforts did not go unnoticed.
The Lady Tigers had a tremendous season and will hit the softball field soon to compete for another state championship. Basketball will be put on the back burner for the next few months and once softball ends it will be right back to the hardwood floors of the gym. These girls have spent countless hours in the gym working to make this school and community proud and I for one will always be proud to be part of the Tiger Family. Hope to see you at the games.
Photos from the game:
