By By Matthew Nascone
The Thomasville Lady Tigers came into Atmore and did something no other AHSAA Class 4A team has been able to do all year, they took down the No 5-ranked Escambia County Lady Blue Devils Saturday, 48-47.
"They are now 20-3 and we had already beaten them twice this year, so I knew it was going to be a tough game," ECHS head coach Todd Reynolds said. "I see these kind of games as wake up calls. I told them in the locker room, 'Let's see how you respond to that and you better be out here ready to work hard this week.'"
The No. 1-seeded Lady Devils led No. 2-seeded Thomasville with 2:07 showing on the clock in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Tigers tied the game and took a 48-44 lead on four made free throws late in the game.
ECHS senior Ashanti Jones nailed a three-pointer with 1.5 seconds left, but the clock ran out on the Lady Devils and they fell 48-47.
"We made the three and we didn't get the timeout called," Reynolds said. "Losing is never fun, but some positives we can take from this is that Megan Hartley had a decent game. I thought Ashanti played excellent defense and we executed the game plan at the end."
Reynolds said even though his team missed some shots, he was not disappointed with the shot selection.
"We only took a handful of what I would call 'bad shots,'" Reynolds said.
And there was not one aspect the blame could be laid upon, Reynolds said.
"In a one-point game you can look at 10-15 mistakes to see what it was that cost you," he said.
The Lady Tigers scored first and held onto a 10-7 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Lady Devils kept it close and shaved one point off that lead for a 21-19 Thomasville advantage at halftime.
The Lady Devils only led once in the first half, at 3-2 with a little more than four minutes to go in the first quarter. The Lady Devils took their second lead with 3:25 remaining in the third quarter, but the Thomasville lead went back to three points at 34-31 by the end of the quarter.
The fourth quarter was a heated battle that ended with the Lady Tigers prevailing for the 4A, Area 1 title.
"This was a tough game," Thomasville head coach Curtis Lane said. "The kids played hard and it was a good effort on both sides."
Leading the scoring for the Lady Devils was Jasmine Sanders with 21 points. Ashanti Jones and Megan Hartley added nine points each, Ashley Kidd contributed five points and Latesha Lee scored three points.
The Lady Devils hit the road Thursday for their sub-regional game against Andalusia High School. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.