By Trent Friedel, exclusive to the Times
The Saint Mary’s Lady Tigers returned to action last week at home to start the New Year. Let’s hope that the beginning of the New Year is not a projection of where the team is headed. The Tigers hosted the Rapides Lady Mustangs and had a difficult time against the 2A team. The Tigers struggled early in the game against heavy pressure from the Mustangs. Several turnovers on errant passes and steals from the Mustangs allowed the visitors to pull out to a 12 – 5 lead. Solid three-point shooting from Ragan Hale kept the Tigers within striking distance.
Hale brought the Tigers to a seven-point deficit of the Mustangs trailing 21 – 14 with about one-minute remaining in the first quarter. The Mustangs answered with a three to make the score 24 -16 at the end of one. The Lady Mustangs continued to heat it up from beyond the arc with #10 Martin hitting at will. Ten points would be the average deficit the Tigers would face for the first half. That would be the case at the half as Saint Mary’s headed to the locker room down 38 – 28. Saint Mary’s came out of the break hitting their first shots but the Mustangs answered quickly to keep their lead.
The Tigers seem unable to get it going. Every time it looked like the tide was turning in their favor, the Mustangs answered and started pulling away. The score was 63 – 44 after three periods. The 10-point advantage for the Mustangs would swell to 20 with the score 68-48 with about 4 minutes to play.
As insult to injury, with 50 seconds to play and leading 72 – 56, Hailey Seamen gets called for a foul on a shooting play. Rapides can’t convert the old fashioned three-point play. The Mustang coaching staff kept most of their starters in till the end with a commanding lead.
The final score was 77 – 60, a fairly high scoring game for girl’s competition. Saint Mary’s will look to switch thing around in the coming contests.