Hattiesburg made quick work of Pearl River Central on Tuesday night as the Lady Tigers walked away with a 49-25 victory.
A nasty half-court press created turnovers and led to a dominant third quarter for Hattiesburg.
“Tonight, we did a pretty decent job of running our half-court press,” Hattiesburg coach Caronica Jackson said. “We forced some turnovers there. I told my girls that PRC is a young team, but smart team. They do some good things against the man-to-man movement. They caught us sleeping on some possessions, but I think we were able to make up for it with our transition offense and points off turnovers.”
In the first quarter, Hattiesburg (17-8, 7-2) jumped out to a 15-6 lead with Chloe Boney, who provided a spark with her perimeter shooting. Boney hit two of her three-pointers in the quarters, which helped her finish with a team-leading 13 points.
“We emphasized that during practice this week, about getting more shots up,” Jackson said. “Boney is usually a big that plays on the inside, but we constantly tell her that when somebody plays her in the zone she has to step out and make threes. She’s one of our more consistent and better shooters, and she did a good job of stepping up tonight.”
Despite the hot start, foul trouble killed Hattiesburg’s momentum, with Alaysia Jordan and Indian Lee getting into early foul trouble, which allowed Pearl River Central (6-16,1-9) to go on a 6-0 run and narrow the score to 23-12 at halftime.
“We kind of went into a stall,” Jackson said. “The main issue was that our leading engine, Alaysia Jordan, got into foul trouble. She got two quick fouls back-to-back. When she goes out, it kind of changes the whole rotation.
“India, our other senior, went out with foul trouble, so they were trying to wrap their minds around that different lineup on the floor with two bigs.”
As soon as Jordan stepped back on the court in the third quarter, the Lady Tiger offense flourished and outscored the Blue Devils 15-3 to go up 38-15.
Jordan scored all 10 of her points in the second half. Notably, PRC only made four buckets in the second half, three of which were three-pointers.
“Alaysia got back into the game and was able to stay out of foul trouble and get herself worked in,” Jackson said. “That really helped with her being on the floor. We made adjustments with our pressing. We had to back it up and tighten up a little bit. We did a much better job of sharing the ball in transition in the third quarter.”
Tuesday’s game against PRC is the first of three straight games, with Hattiesburg having to play district foe Forest Hill on Wednesday as a makeup game. If Hattiesburg wins, then they will either be the first or second seed in the Region 3-6A tournament and will receive a first-round bye.
Hattiesburg holds the same district record as West Jones, with the two splitting their series against one another in the regular season. However, the Lady Mustangs have the tiebreaker over Hattiesburg and therefore will need to lose their final district game if the Lady Tigers are to clinch the No. 1 seed.
Hattiesburg will then conclude its regular season schedule on Thursday night as the Tigers face crosstown rival Petal. The district tournament will commence next Monday and will be held at Forest Hill.
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