The Higbee girls jumped out to an early lead Friday night against the Tina-Avalon Lady Dragons, but could not hold on, losing 54-38.

With a three-point lead following the first quarter, the Lady Tigers fell behind by a score of 25-21 at the end of the half. The Lady Dragons outscored the Lady Tigers 11-9 in the third making the score 36-31. Tina-Avalon lengthened its lead by outscoring Higbee 18-7 in the final stanza to win 54-35.

“We struggled to get good looks and we missed opportunities,” said Higbee coach Tanner Burton. “Early on we did a solid job on their two main scorers, but they had a guard that stepped up and made baskets when they needed them.”

Freshman Ronnie Welch paced the Lady Tigers with 16 points on the night and five assists. Classmate Marilynn Ritter pumped in 11. Sophomore Isabelle Welch added four while sophomore Kylleen Gibson and junior Madison Ferguson each put up three. Senior Macey Whisenand rounded out the scoring with one. Junior Emma Johnson pulled down nine rebounds to lead the Lady Tigers.

“We went 3-15 from the free-throw line,” Burton said. “They had 15 more second-chance points than we did. Losing in those two areas probably made the difference in the game.

“Our job right now,” said Burton, “is to put in the work and improve so we can get another shot at them in the conference tournament in February. I know with our youth, we will be much better in two months from where we were Friday night.”

Like their male counterparts, the Lady Tigers rely mainly on youth to keep the team running. With only two seniors, Burton has been turning to freshmen Ronnie Welch and Marilynn Ritter for the bulk of his scoring. Welch is averaging 19.1 points per game while Ritter is hitting 8.0 points per game.

Welch is also averaging 7.4 rebounds per game while Johnson has grabbed 6.1 per game. 

With the 2021 portion of the season coming to a close, the Lady Tigers hosted Marion County Tuesday night after The Advertiser went to press. That was to be The Lady Tiger’s only game this week. They return home on Monday to host Hale with Bosworth at 6 p.m.