Sitting in the hotel room in the Hampton Inn on Monday awaiting arguably the most important game the Lady Tigers have ever played allowed me to reflect on the whirlwind weekend.
The Tigers were in the South Regional tournament, which is the Division II equivalent of the NCAA tournament.
It started with a matchup between the No. 2 seed Fort Valley State Lady Wildcats and the No. 7 seed Lady Tigers.
There was a good feeling coming into the game, mainly because of the caliber of competition Ouachita played against in the Gulf South Conference West division compared to the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Lady Wildcats. But the Lady Wildcats came in ranked, riding a 21-game win streak.
The FVSU started warm ups by running around the entire floor and began clapping and grouping underneath the basket the Lady Tigers were warming up on, an attempt at intimidation that had no effect.
The Lady Wildcats liked to get up and down the floor quickly and make lay ups in transition. On defense they run a zone, which, at times, had holes.
The Lady Tigers were able to get back on defense and force Fort Valley State to take jump shots, which was not their strength. On offense the Lady Tigers did a great job breaking the zone by getting the ball to the high post and distributing it at will.
In the end the Lady Tigers came away with a 69-55 win. They were led by freshman A’Laeshia Adams who had 26 points and nine rebounds, and senior Haley Griffin who had 10 points, 13 rebounds and six assists.
It was the Lady Tigers’ first ever regional tournament game, and first ever regional tournament win which propelled them to the round of 32.
After the game, the team stayed to watch the Clark-Atlanta and Tampa game. Ouachita would be playing the winner.
The winner turned out to be the No. 3 seeded Tampa. In watching the game it became obvious Tampa was generally a good shooting team but was not strong at creating their own shots. Just like Fort Valley State, they played mostly in a zone.
The next day the Lady Tigers faced off against Tampa, and again they were very confident in their play.
It is amazing for a team full of freshmen and players who had never been in a regional tournament to be so calm and confident through the whole weekend.
The Lady Tigers were outstanding in the first half.
At halftime they led 45-27 over a team that only gave up an average of 50 points a game, came into the game ranked and was on a 13-game win streak.
The second half however the Lady Spartans of Tampa started hitting their shots.
Ouachita had a 24-point lead with 12:26 left, but Tampa did not give up.
They went on a 14-0 run and got the game within one point with 2:13 left, but Ouachita would not lose.
Adams and fellow freshman Domino Miller stepped to the free-throw stripe in the final minute and hit all their free throws to seal the game and give the Lady Tigers a 77-74 win, putting them in the Sweet 16.
Up next came the winner of the Delta State vs. Arkansas-Monticello game.
Arkansas-Monticello lost to Delta State in overtime of the conference championship game, so everyone expected a good game, and it was until halftime.
Delta State owned the second half and came away with an 80-56 win, setting a match up between the host and No. 1 seed Delta State and the No. 7 seed Lady Tigers, the only team to beat DSU this year.
Monday’s game was a defensive battle the whole way through with neither side putting up near their averages in points. Ouachita led at halftime 30-29, but both teams came out cold in the second half.
In the end Delta State won 50-49 in a controversial ending, to put it lightly.
The game was — in my book — won by the Lady Tigers, but Delta State was given the win.
Kudos to Lady Tigers’ freshman A’Laeshia Adams and sophomore Gabby Coleman for making the All-Tournament Team, and senior Haley Griffin for scoring her 1,000th point as a Lady Tiger. Props also go to senior Kim Beverly’s defense throughout the tournament.
It was a great year for the Lady Tigers who won 23 games, an 18 game improvement on last year.
The future looks bright for this group, and it should be a fun few years and the start of a winning tradition.
