McComb’s Lady Tigers successfully exacted revenge Friday night with a 73-54 win over the Raymond Lady Rangers in the Tiger Den in McComb.
McComb (17-4, 4-1) avenged a 58-55 loss on Jan. 9 in Raymond and is the team’s fourth straight victory.
The Lady Tigers made sure Friday’s game wouldn’t go down to the wire, by claiming a 16-point lead at the end of the first quarter and cruising to the win.
“We changed our pressure up, press on, press off, execute,” said head coach Charlton Grey. “When that ball goes in the basket, it makes a big difference and we executed. They picked up each other. I told them it’s for first place. It’s three years in a row we’ve been playing for first place. We gotta keep that trophy here and we gotta make a statement and we made that statement tonight.”
The Lady Tigers jumped out of the gate with 27 points in the first quarter while forcing seven Raymond turnovers in the frame.
Chardonay Williams’ 3-pointer with 1:50 left before halftime gave McComb its largest lead of the half at 39-20.
The Lady Rangers cut the McComb lead to 12 points at 44-32 with 4:36 left in the third quarter before the home team went on a quick 7-0 spurt capped by Ebony Gayden’s layup to put the lead back at 19 points.
Dellesheonia Dixon’s layup with under a minute left put the Lady Tigers ahead 56-35 heading into the fourth quarter.
Gayden had a game-high 23 points. Williams had a double-double with 12 points and 10 assists to go along with three blocks.
Smith also had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds along with eight assists and five steals.
Dixon added 12 points and six steals.
Other scorers were: Alisha Tucker (8), TyRicka Morris (4) and Britney Fleming (2).
“Tonight we were in attack mode,” Grey said. “We’re on a mission and I told them we have to stay together. There’s no I in team. We have to stay together and work together.”
Raymond 72, McComb 25
A 13-2 run to start the game was only the beginning of the onslaught as the Rangers overwhelmed the Tigers Friday night.
Raymond led from start to finish, leading 24-4 at the end of the first quarter and 42-9 at halftime.
“We lost to the No. 1 team in Class 4A,” said McComb head coach Leon Harris. “They not better than the score was, we’re not worse than the score was. We were shell shocked. We played some eighth-graders tonight and some ninth-graders. I guarantee you when it comes down to it, the McComb Tigers will be in the state tournament.”
McComb (4-16, 0-5) still has five games left in district play currently in fifth place behind Raymond, South Pike, Florence and Lanier.
“We got five more games in the district,” Harris said. “We can go 5-0 and be 5-5. We’ll be right there in third place where we want to be.”
