CASEY GEORG Special to the Press
THRALL — An aggressive style of defense has become one of the trademarks of the Thrall Tigerettes, and Tuesday night that paid off as the Tigerettes (4-2) forced 44 Lexington Lady Eagle turnovers, in route to a 55-38 win.
“Our defense won us the game,” said Thrall Head Coach Katina Walker. “We moved together, communicated and pounced on Lexington every chance we got. Kinely Hoffman was a spark on defense.”
Lexington (8-2) got off to a fast start, outscoring the Tigerettes 12-2 over the first four and a half minutes of the first quarter. But, Thrall was able to battle back. Ashlyn Jarosek, who led the Tigerettes with 14 points, dropped in a pair of three-point jumpers with just under three minutes to play, to help the Tigerettes’ rally.
By the end of the period, Thrall had cut the lead to 15-14.
Defense, from both teams, was the key in the second quarter. The Lady Eagles managed just six points in the period, while the Tigerettes were limited to a single basket, but connected on a trio of free throws.
Lexington took a 21-19 lead into halftime but Thrall stepped up after that.
The third quarter belonged to the Tigerettes.
A balanced scoring attack, combined with their continued stingy defense, allowed the Tigerettes to outscore Lexington 19-3 in the quarter. Nevaeh Irvin, Jarosek and Avery Ochoa each scored four points in the period, and Thrall led 39-24 going into the fourth quarter.
Lexington was able to put 14 on the board in the final period, but the Tigerettes were still able to extend their lead, after tallying 17 over the final eight minutes. CeCe Walker scored six of her 11 points in the final stanza, and Irvin added four more points, to finish with 12.
The Lady Eagles managed to cut the lead to single figures only once in the final quarter but continued to struggle with Thrall’s defense.
“Ashlyn, Irvin and CeCe were all in double digits in scoring,” Coach Walker said.
“That is a tremendous help when you have multiple people in double-digit scoring. It was a great game for us, overall.”
Thrall was participating in the Lipan tournament over the weekend. They will see Martin’s Mill, the current top-ranked team in 2A, as well as Lipan, the defending 2A state champions, in the three-day event
