The game counted in the regular-season records, but it may as well have been a preseason contest to McComb head girls’ coach Angela Johnson.
The Lady Tigers’ 53-35 loss to the Murrah Lady Mustangs on Tuesday night at the McComb gym was just a warmup for McComb’s tough district road ahead.
McComb fell to 0-2 on the young season despite the Lady Tigers’ 10-0 run to open the second half. Still, that didn’t matter to Johnson … at least not on the surface.
“Oh yeah, this bothers me,” the mild-mannered Johnson said after the Lady Tigers squandered a third-quarter run that rallied the Lady Tigers from a 27-14 halftime deficit. “But this was a great test for us to see what needs to be worked on.”
Johnson was especially troubled by the Lady Tigers’ 23 turnovers, which followed their 26 giveaways in Saturday’s 15-point loss to Choctaw Central. Johnson also was alarmed by the Lady Tigers’ sub-par free-throw shooting. McComb was just 5-of-16 from the charity stripe.
“We’re killing ourselves at the free-throw line,” she said. “And we’re not taking care of the ball. I take all the blame because the girls’ effort reflects the leadership.”
After falling behind by 13 at halftime, the Lady Tigers drew closer on the shooting of guard Aunjanique Miller. She grabbed an offensive rebound and hit the putback to pull McComb to within 27-18, then drained a three-pointer from the left baseline to make it 27-24 with 4:48 to go in the third period. Miller finished with a team-high 20 points.
The Lady Tigers, however, went scoreless for the next 3:52 before Miller’s 12-foot jumper in the paint made it 35-26 with 56 seconds left in the period.
“We’ve got to be more consistent on offense and defense,” Johnson said. “The third quarter is the only quarter we played.
“This season’s schedule is the strongest since I’ve been here. We have to get better.”
