High school basketball: Lady Tigers playoff run ends against Lady Hornets
Mar. 6—LINDALE — The Neches Lady Tigers playoff run came to an end inside Lindale's gymnasium, 65-20, Friday night against the Dodd City Lady Hornets.
The Lady Tigers were back in the state tournament for the first time since 2012. They were coming off beating the defending region IV champions — Chireno Lady Owls. Now, it was the Lady Hornets, who was entering their fourth state tournament appearance.
It took a little bit for the offense to get going for both teams. Dodd City got the first basket of the game before Emily Hill responded with a three on the other end to give Neches a 3-2 lead.
Unfazed, Dodd City answered with back-to-back baskets to give them a three-point lead three minutes into the quarter.
Their continued until the 2:49 mark in the first quarter, which by then they had rattled off a 10-2 run to put them ahead 12-5. Neches ended the quarter trailing 14-9 with Kacie Kimbrough leading them with four points.
Dodd City made a consertive effort to neutralize Kimbrough who was coming off a game where she had 21 points in the first half. Every time Kimbrough touched the ball in the paint she had a pair of Lady Hornets defenders on her back.
Unfortunately for the Lady Tigers, the remaining three quarters wouldn't be any more kind to them on either end of the floor.
Neches and Dodd City matched each other in points with four in the opening two minutes of the second quarter.
While the offensive momentum continued to surge for the Lady Hornets, Neches had trouble matching their opposition's pace.
The Lady Tigers were outscored 13-6 over the next three minutes before being held scoreless in the final two minutes. The scoring drought allowed Dodd City to carry a 30-17 lead into halftime.
Intermission did little to extinguish Dodd's hot hand. They cashed in on five three pointers in the first half and that shooting display stretched into the second half.
Neches was outscored 8-1 in the first three minutes of the second half before the Lady Hornets spent the final three minutes of the quarter racing out on a 10-0 run.
The Lady Tigers managed two free throws in the quarter — one from Lexi Rogers and the other from Kimbrough.
Kimbrough recorded the lone fourth-quarter point for Neches as they were outscored 18-1 in the final quarter.
Neches ends the season with their first district title since 2013 and their first state tournament appearance since 2012. They went 12-0 in district and 19-4 on the year.
