By: Shayla Terry

The Luverne Tigers fell short to the Central Hayneville Lions for the second time this season on Tuesday night.

The Tigers took the trip to Hayneville with hopes of changing the total loss of last week’s game. Yet again, all three teams succumbed to the Lions.

B-Team played a close game last week against Central, but this week the team got away from them. They lost 57-39.

“We were in the game until the fourth quarter,” Head Coach Ro Harris said.

“We had turnovers, and quite a few fouls at the end.”

Harris says the team handled the pressure this week, but they weren’t on top of their scoring. With a few lead scorers fouling out, it didn’t leave much room for accurate shots. Freshman Raja Moneyham finished the night with 10 points.

“In the future, we’re going to play our game,” Harris said.

“We need to box out better, and limit our turnovers. If we do that, then we’ll win the game.”

The Lady Tigers have had a pretty good season, yet the last few weeks have presented hurdles for the team. The girls lost 66-39.

“We came up short,” Girls Head Coach Rasheeda May said.

“The energy was much better this game, even though I had some injured players.”

Sophomore Jayla June has officially been deemed out for the season with a torn ACL. The Lady Tigers have looked to other players to step up. Sophomore Cassidy Johnson has proved to be a steady scorer for the team. She scored 19 points against the Lions.

“We’re going into our next game with a new game plan,” May said. “I do have some people coming off the bench for me, and we’re going in to win.”

The varsity boys did see some improvement from their last meeting against Central, yet they still fell short 78-49.

“We played a whole lot better,” Boys Head Coach Richard Dorsey said.

“We were down by eight at the halftime, and by about 10 going into the fourth quarter.”

Dorsey says freshman Satyler Wilson has begun to come into his own on the varsity squad as a point guard, and that sophomore Dionte (Tay) Brantley played one of his better games. Senior La’Darion Harrell finished the night with 14 points.

“We’re really focusing on securing our offense like we need to,” Dorsey said.

“We need to be playing a lot better team defense. I think if we can do that, and share the ball and be patient, then we’ll be fine.”

Tonight, the Tigers will face the Calhoun Tigers in Luverne for their third game of area play.  Friday night, Luverne will match up against county rivals the Brantley Bulldogs in Brantley. B-team starts it off at 4:30 p.m.