Lady Tigers Scamper Past Oakdale 60-36

By Terry Futrell – December 7, 2018

The Sunbright Lady Tigers continued their victory march by defeating the Oakdale Lady Eagles 60-36 Friday evening. The Lady Tigers are now 3-0 in district play, averaging 61 points per game, and 7-2 overall. The Lady Eagles are now 1-3 in district play and 1-8 overall.

Oakdale scored first when Ivy Tilson buried a 3-pointer. After a quick response by Makenna Brown, Delaney Hicks and Victoria Jones moved the Lady Eagles to a 6-2 lead. Then, the Lady Tigers began to connect, tying the score at 6-6. At this point, Lexi Griffith and Olivia Northrup scored on three consecutive treys, giving the Lady Tigers a 15-8 lead. Sunbright increased its lead to 19-10 at the end of the 1^st period.

Things slowed down in the 2^nd quarter and the Lady Eagles matched Sunbright point-for-point, each team scoring nine before the half. Sunbright’s lead was 28-19 going into the locker room. Sunbright’s relentless defense resulted in Oakdale making 13 turnovers compared to the Lady Tigers’ five. As a result, Sunbright was able to take twice as many shots as the Lady Eagles.

After the intermission, the Lady Tigers picked up where they had left off and scored the first five points. The Lady Tigers switched to a man-to-man defense and Oakdale struggled to keep up with Sunbright’s scoring, with only eight points in the period compared to Sunbright’s 15. Sunbright led 43-27 after three.

The Lady Tigers continued their scoring pace to the end of the game, adding 17 more points to Oakdale’s nine. Sunbright’s final margin of victory was 24 points, 60-36.

Game stats were impressively in Sunbright’s favor, but don’t tell the complete story. The Lady Tigers committed only 13 turnovers, compared to 25 for Oakdale. Sunbright took 72 shots from the field, compared to only 33 for Oakdale. Both of these dominating stats can be attributed to Sunbright’s pressure defense that gave Oakdale very few open looks at the basket. On the other hand, the Lady Tigers were successful in penetrating Oakdale’s zone defense that worked so well against Harriman just a week earlier.

Sunbright moves on to a rematch at Pickett County and a home game with Rockwood. Oakdale faces Coalfield in what should be a competitive match and a tough game with Oneida.

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