SUMRALL – It was not the circumstances the Sumrall girls had hoped for heading into the Region 7-4A region tournament.
After clinching the No. 1 seed last week against rival Purvis, the Lady Bobcats fell victim to COVID-19 protocols as they were without their head coach Dodie Robinson, leading scorer Tariana Greenwood and Kayla in the 45-37 loss to Stone.
We were missing Tariana Greenwood and Kaylaa (McCloud),” Sumrall assistant coach Jonathan Robinson said. “Tariana is a big part of what we were missing. Obviously, coach was not here either, which is my wife. That made a difference as well. We would have loved to have her. If we could have had Tariana here I think that would have had made a big difference. We ended up with people in places that they are not typically in. We played a few people that do not typically play as much. I thought the effort was great and I thought they fought until the very end. We had some young ones come in and step up and play well. We just couldn’t get shots to fall that we needed to fall.”
The adversity did not seem to initially phase Sumrall at the start of the game. The Lady Bobcats’ defense maintained early control of the game which allowed for Sumrall to jump out to a 10-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“That first quarter we had looked at some things where we thought we could get the ball inside,” Robertson said. “We were able to do that in the first quarter. We were able to hit a couple of shots when we kicked it back out from the post.”
However, Stone quickly adjust in the second quarter and shifted momentum. The Lady Tomcats outscored Sumrall 19-2 in the quarter.
“Stone did a really good job of shutting that off,” Robertson said. “They saw what we were doing and shut that off. In the second quarter we just had too many turnovers. They seemed to pick up their intensity a little bit. They seemed to have come out with a little more pressure on our guards which made our entry passes into the post a little more difficult.
“It was just a big momentum shift. I asked them to keep fighting. Every now and then we have those quarters where things go dry and we have a hard time scoring. That second quarter was the quarter. We had to take care of the ball and take shots. That second quarter we had several turnovers in a row, and we didn’t take shots.”
In the second half, Stone maintained control of the lead by drawing fouls and free throw shooting. The Lady Tomcats shot 22-of-31 from the line.
“They were driving to the basket,” Robertson said. “We were trying to get in front of them and cut them off. Apparently we weren’t getting their quite quick enough. Instead of getting the charge call we were getting called for blocks.”
Stone’s free throw shooting helped them manage the game and pull away to earn the win.
As of now, Robertson expects to have the team return to its full strength in time for the start of the MHSAA playoffs.
“Our goal starts next week,” Robertson said. “That’s the silver lining that we are in the playoffs. Being able to accomplish that last week took a little pressure off in case something like this happened.”
Sumrall will play Purvis in tournament’s consolation game.
