Lady Eagles complete sweep

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, January 3, 2006

AUBURN - Fort Dale coach Reggie Mantooth had hoped that his scorekeeper Joe Watts had forgotten about a promise Mantooth had made to him before Friday's games at Lee-Scott.

Before the Eagles' games with Lee-Scott in the annual Lee-Scott Holiday Tournament, Mantooth said that he would take everyone out to dinner should both his teams win. That had not happened in almost a month when Fort Dale swept Pike Liberal Arts on Dec. 8.

The boys ended their losing skid with a three-point win, and then his girls left no doubt to the outcome in the championship round of the tournament game with the Lady Warriors by coming away with a 28-point victory.

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&#8220Our defense played well all game long,” Mantooth said of the Lady Eagles' 46-18 win over Lee-Scott. &#8220I think our defense took them out of their game from the start, and they couldn't overcome that.”

Lee-Scott coach Roddie Beck also tried to keep Fort Dale senior forward Frances Watts at bay, by packing a tight zone defense in to force the Lady Eagles to shoot from the outside.

Only that plan blew up in Beck's face when Jennifer Pouncey drained three 3-pointers in the second quarter to eventually give Fort Dale a 24-10 lead at the half.

&#8220We didn't want Frances to take over, so we wanted to force them to shoot from outside,” Beck said. &#8220But that plan dissolved when (Pouncey) started to hit those 3-pointers.”

Pouncey finished the game with a game-high 19 points and was named to the all-tournament team. Watts, who was named the tournament's most valuable player, finished with 16.

Lee-Scott (4-6) also could not handle Fort Dale's pressure defense. With an inexperienced point guard, the Lady Warriors could not get into an offensive flow.

&#8220We didn't handle their pressure very well,” Beck said. &#8220Our effort was there, but we aren't handling the ball very well right now.”