It looked as if free throws would be Hattiesburg’s downfall, but in the end, the Lady Tigers sank them when it counted most in a 39-34 win over crosstown rival Oak Grove.
Hattiesburg, which trailed all night, surged in the fourth quarter. The Lady Tigers scored 17 points, with eight coming from free throws. The most critical came in the final seconds as Hattiesburg held a 37-34 lead as point guard Laila Esters was fouled.
Despite Esters struggling on the line all night, she managed to knock down both free throws to seal the win.
“I said, ‘Laila, I believe in you,’ that’s all I can do,” Hattiesburg coach Caronica Jackson said. “It’s just a mental aspect of it. Sometimes you need that confidence. Once you are at that free throw line, then it’s just you and the rim.
“She handles the ball the most for us. She gets it to the rack the most. She gets to the free throw line the most, and unfortunately, she struggles the most. She’s also one of my more mentally tough players, so when it counted, she knocked them down for us.”
In the end, Hattiesburg was 14-of-29 from the free throw line, and just a day earlier, in a win against Jeff Davis County, the Lady Tigers were 14-of-38.
“Unfortunately, that has been the tale of our season,” Jackson said. “Free throws have been our Achilles heel. You try not to harp on it to not get into our heads, but when you can make them down the stretch when they count, then we will take what we can get.
“If we make free throws, this game is not as stressful or as close as it is.”
Oak Grove jumped to an 11-0 lead, but Hattiesburg (11-7) managed to close the first quarter with a 5-0 run.
The second quarter, which was ugly for both teams, featured numerous missed layups and free throws, which ended with the Lady Warriors leading 16-8. By the end of the half, Hattiesburg was 4-of-10 from the free throw line, while Oak Grove (8-9) was 1-of-4.
“It was a lot of missed layups,” Jackson said. “They zoned us a lot, and we don’t do well with outside shooting. When we came back out, we had to step it up on defense. We have to use our defense to get us going on offense. We were able to do that with our defensive subs.”
At the start of the third quarter, Hattiesburg began to shift momentum in its favor by playing a more aggressive defense, which led to Oak Grove coughing up numerous turnovers.
“You have to make shots,” Oak Grove coach Mark Swindle said. “If we take care of the ball, then it’s okay. Hattiesburg played really well, and you have to give them all the credit for it.
“We go up 11 to nothing, and then we lost the ball six times in a row. You can’t lose the ball six times. They are not even pressing. We have to get it together. I’m really frustrated with our older players. They aren’t coming through for us.”
Hattiesburg pulled within one possession by the end of the quarter at 26-25; however, the Lady Tigers could have held the lead had they not shot 2-of-6 with their free throws.
“We are not that strong offensively to start that slow,” Jackson said. “We have to do a better job of getting those easy free throws, getting those layups, and then keeping them off the boards.”
Yet Hattiesburg seized momentum with its defensive pressure while Oak Grove struggled. The epitome of the frustration came after an Oak Grove player was called for a technical ball after slamming the ball just after giving up another turnover.
“We played awful,” Swindle said. “Hattiesburg played a lot better than us. We can’t make a free throw. We practice and practice, and sometimes the pressure gets to you. We have to figure it out, or our season is going to be over really fast.
“I’m really frustrated. I don’t know what the answers are, and I may be playing the wrong people. I have to evaluate myself and see how it goes. We have to try and put it together.”
Hattiesburg outscored Oak Grove 17-8 in the fourth quarter. Notably, the free throw shooting script flipped as the Lady Warriors were 0-of-6 from the line while Hattiesburg was 8-of-13 in the quarter.
Esters led Hattiesburg with 14 points, while Oak Grove’s Tyia Morris finished with a team-high of 12 points.
“We have to pull together a full game,” Jackson said. “We can’t let a team play a zone (defense) and shut us down like that. That’s just an issue of confidence.
“The goal is to win district, so we have to step up and correct those errors.”
