By Gene Schallenberg
NEW WAVERLY — Deadlocked in a tie for third-place, New Waverly needed another big win to keep its playoff hopes alive.
With Trinity coming to town, which had already clinched the District 21-2A championship, it wasn’t going to be easy.
The Lady Dogs held off a furious rally by the Lady Tigers and eked out a 58-51 win on Tuesday.
“That was a good one, a real good one from start to finish,” New Waverly head coach Eldridge McAdams said. “The girls stepped up. They had their minds set on winning this game.
“It’s a big win, a real big win for us. We just can’t get satisfied though. We’ve got to focus on the next two. We’ve still got a chance to come back and get second.”
New Waverly, which improved to 8-4 in district, led by 11 entering the final quarter, but the Lady Tigers started to catch fire shooting the ball.
Trinity guard Shambrail Woods scored 10 of the Lady Tigers’ first 11 points in the fourth, including two 3-pointers.
Within a matter of minutes, the Lady Dogs’ lead was down to two points. Thanks to big plays down the stretch by Myeisha Williams and Kayla Williams, the Lady Dogs were able to stretch their lead.
With 35.8 seconds left, freshman Lavonna Smith hit one of two free throws to give New Waverly a 56-51 lead. The Lady Tigers looked to pull within a possession, but Lady Dogs post Jai Cleveland, who pulled down 13 rebounds, blocked Alex Jenkins’ layup with five seconds to play.
“They just made shots,” McAdams said. “I didn’t know when it was going to happen, but I knew they were going to go on a run. It just happened to be in the fourth quarter. We were able to make some key shots when we needed them. We had some free throws in the fourth quarter. They were crucial and we knocked them down.”
Though the loss prevented Trinity from running the table in the district, Lady Tigers head coach Jozette Jenkins said that it won’t deter her team.
“We got into a lot of foul trouble early on, which rendered us defenseless and New Waverly took advantage,” the Trinity coach said. “We knew it was going to be a hard-fought game.
“This shouldn’t affect us. We won’t let this loss get us down. We just have to work a little bit harder. We’ve got plenty of confidence in ourselves.”
