“Well, sometimes it’s just better to be lucky than good,” TC Central head coach Robert Duncan said. ”I am proud of the girls after such a frustrating season. To a certain extent, they really came out and showed a lot of heart and character. We could have easily thrown in the towel, and kind of tucked our head down and went on.
“I am real proud of them stepping up and meeting the challenge. It is hard to beat a team over and over again. Winterboro has really come along way and I certainly take my hat off to coach Smith and his staff, those girls. They are such a young team and to work as hard as they do. They have made great strides and improvement.
“I am grateful for our girls. Ashley Embry really stepped up and came through at crunch time tonight.”
The Fighting Tigers used a huge third quarter to take an 11-point lead into the fourth period. Ashley Lawson scored eight points in the quarter, which included a step back three pointer to give the Lady Fighting Tigers a 29-22 lead with 3:33 left in the quarter. Freshman Zana Wallace score the final four points for TC Central to give the Lady Tigers a 33-22 lead going into the fourth quarter.
“Shakerri Garrett, a seventh grader was our spark plug for that third quarter,” Duncan said. ”She came out with some energy that we needed. I felt like we were playing hard but the different level of energy she came out with took us to the next level. We had a little letdown in the fourth quarter, but we held on in the end. But the third quarter was the key to the game.”
The fourth quarter belonged to the Lady Bulldogs. Winterboro opened the stanza with a 13-5 run. Jasmine Richardson cut the TC Central lead to three points with a free throw to make it 39-36 with 1:36 left in the game. Richardson cut the Lady Fighting Tigers’ lead down to one point when she grabbed the rebound of a TC Central miss and took it coast to coast for a layup to make it 39-38.
TC Central came up huge on the defensive end with less than a minute left in the game. The Lady Fighting Tigers forced turnovers on Winterboro’s last two possessions of the game.
Quingelica Strown and Ashley Embry sealed the victory as they both knocked down clutch free throws to help TC Central to advance to the semifinal round of the tournament.
The Lady Fighting Tigers received a boost from Leilani Perry who saw her first action since tearing her ACL in the first game of the season. Perry’s presence was felt on the defensive end as she contested shots in the paint.
Lawson led the way for TC Central with 12 points. Strown chipped in with nine points.
Richardson led the way for the Lady Bulldogs with 14 points. Tanesha Merritt scored nine for Winterboro.
The Lady Fighting Tigers take on Donoho on Thursday at 7:30 p.m.
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