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By Fred Guarino

The Lowndes Signal

Both the Central’s Lady Lions and the Calhoun Tigers advanced to the regional finals of the AHSAA Class 2A basketball tournament at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome in Montgomery today, Friday, Feb. 15.

The Lady Lions advanced with a 65-43 regional semi-final win over the Washington County Lady Bulldogs. And the Tigers advanced with a dramatic 41-39 win over Cottage Hill Christian.

The Lady Lions will face R.C. Hatch at 6:30 p.m., and the Tigers will face R.C. Hatch at 8:15 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 19. at the Acadome.

In the semi-final game over Washington County, Cordasia Harris and Derrica McCall scored 25 points each.

Central Lady Lions head basketball coach Terry Thomas said he looks forward to the regional finals on Tuesday.

He said, “We came out strong and dominated the game from the beginning.” And, he said his Lady Lions went up by as much as 30 points with a “great defensive effort” and a “great team effort.”

In the semi-final game over Cottage Hill Christian, JaMichael Boone led the Calhoun Tigers with 12 points while Jakobe Miles scored 10 points and had 11 rebounds.  Jerdarrian Davison also played good defense for the Tigers, pulling down 10 boards of his own.

The Tigers were up 22-7 going into the second quarter when Calhoun Tigers head basketball coach Ervin Starr said his team began to play “undisciplined” basketball and suffered 20 unforced turnovers.

He said, “We just stopped playing Calhoun basketball.” But taking nothing away from Cottage Hill Christian, Starr said they just “out hustled” his Tigers. He also said his team missed free throws and layups as though they were never practiced.

However, Starr stressed that his team played “an outstanding defensive game.” And, he said, “That’s the one thing that we carry with us regardless of where we are playing.”

While Starr said close games don’t bother his team, he said they just need to do the little things to keep games from being close.

“At least we have another chance to reach our ultimate goal,” Starr said.