By Kyle Roberts
BENTON, La. — Double-digit efforts from four Lady Bearcats (6-8) helped lead Ruston High to an 82-47 win Thursday night over Plain Dealing on the first night of the Benton High Lady Tiger Classic, with senior Kiersynce McNeal leading the way with 17 points.
“The chemistry was there,” Ruston Head Coach LaShanda Cooper said. “The girls started out playing very strong from the tip. I was worried about us having a long trip after taking a day off and possibly getting off to a slow start, but we didn’t. We pushed the ball in transition from the start and got a lot of scoring opportunities.
“We shared the ball very well. We’re starting to see that when one of our players is getting hot and scoring, then we need to get them the ball. That happened a lot tonight, and it was a really good balance tonight.”
McNeal scored nine points in the first quarter alone, helping Ruston get out to a 20-6 after the first quarter. A 25-point second quarter shot Ruston out to a 45-23 lead at the half, and the Lady Bearcat never looked back.
Sophomore Angelica Green finished with 14 points, while senior Samiya Lewis totaled 13. Sophomore Gioia Tatum added 12 points overall as the fourth Lady Bearcat to score double digits.
Cooper added that she was pleased with how her team defended Plain Dealing as whole on the night.
“Our defense was on tonight,” Cooper said. “We picked up tonight in full-court man-to-man defense. The girls stepped up to the challenge, and we got a lot of steals and opportunities in transition. A lot of that was based on their aggressive defense.”
Ruston will return to action today against Captain Shreve for the second day of the tournament. Tip off is set for 5:30 p.m.
Lady Bearcat Scoring FG(3FG)-FT=TP
Kiersynce McNeal #20, Sr. 8(1) = 17
Journi Douglas #21, Jr. 3(2) = 8
Angelica Green, #4, Soph. 5(3) – 1-3 = 14
Bailee Harrison, #23, Soph 3 = 6
Jasmine Summerford #22 3(1) = 7
Samiya Lewis #3 5(3) = 13
Gioia Tatum #5, Soph 4(4) = 12
Adrianna Robinson Fr. #24 0 – 3-4 = 3
Morghan Braggs, Jr. #14 1 = 2
Score by Quarter
Ruston 20+25+16+19 = 82
Plain Dealing 6+17+13+11=47
