Like any good chemist or coach, Angelia Johnson knows how chemistry goes hand in hand with success.
With district play approaching, the McComb Lady Tigers head basketball coach got a glimpse Wednesday night at just how much her team has come together this season.
At 24 percent (14-of-58) from the field, the Lady Tigers didn’t have one of their best shooting nights of the season. But McComb held off a scrappy South Pike team to beat the Lady Eagles 47-33 on the final day of the South Pike Holiday Hoops Tournament at the Willie E. Jones Coliseum.
“I like the chemistry we’ve got right now,” Johnson said. “We still need a lot of work, but I’m excited about the direction we’re going in.”
The Lady Tigers improved to 11-6 on the season after repelling a stubborn South Pike squad in the second half.
Aunjanique Miller’s three-point play gave McComb a 10-point lead with 6:07 to play and the Lady Tigers went on to the win.
It was the first time that the McComb girls had beaten the Lady Eagles since winning last year’s South Pike tournament. The teams had played twice earlier this year, with South Pike winning both meetings.
South Pike had shaved the deficit to 32-25 on Kevenesha Felder’s layup off the left baseline with 6:52 left in the game.
But Miller fielded a pass on the left baseline, went to her left and split the lane for a layup as she drew the foul. Miller added the free throw to send McComb to a 35-25 advantage.
“It was a typical McComb-South Pike game,” Johnson said. “We’ve just got to clean up what we’ve got going on. We could have done some things better, but this is a good measuring stick for us.”
South Pike head coach Marcus Flippin said the Lady Eagles simply couldn’t make key shots. South Pike shot 28 percent (15-of-54) from the field, including a first half in which the Lady Eagles made just 25 percent (7-of-28) of their shots.
“We couldn’t throw it in the ocean,” Flippin said. “It was a good ballgame. It was a lot of fun. (McComb) just shot the ball better than we did. Sometimes it goes down, sometimes it doesn’t. It just didn’t for us tonight.”
