Lady Tigers Drop Game To New Hope

by Dwight Turner

The Lady Tigers traveled to New Hope last Thursday to compete in the New Hope Christmas Tournament. Taking on the host Lady Indians in the opening game, Ardmore played a spirited game, fought back to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, but eventually came out on the short end of a 37-32 score.

New Hope took an early 4-0 lead before Sara Jo Taylor hit a field goal for the Lady Tigers and teammate Gina Smith connected from the charity stripe to pull Ardmore to within a point of the lead, 4-3.

New Hope again ran up a lead, 9-3, but Taylor hit another two-pointer and Jennifer Mills drained a trey to get the Lady Tigers back to within one, 9-8. Ardmore then took its first lead of the game, 10-9, when Smith grabbed an offensive rebound and put up a two-pointer.

New Hope regained the lead on a two-pointer from Tara Hubbard and went on to take a 14-12 lead into the second quarter.

Both teams continued to play stubborn defense in the third quarter. Each team scored only six points and the Lady Tigers trailed 26-21 heading into the final stanza.

That's when things got interesting.

Jay Lossiah hit a two-pointer to give New Hope a 28-21 lead. Ardmore's Lauren Atchley responded with two buckets from the charity stripe and Shannon Fogg drained a two-pointer to pull the Lady Tigers to within three, 28-25, with 6:17 remaining.

Felicia Tash put up a free throw for New Hope and Smith answered with a bucket from the charity stripe to make it 29-26 in favor of the Lady Indians with 4:30 remaining.

Tash hit a two-pointer for New Hope and Ardmore responded with a free throw from Casey Steadman. Trailing 32-27, the Lady Tigers got a trey from Landria Curtis and a field goal from Steadman to tie the game at 32-32 at the 1:40 mark.