The Houston Lady Tigers couldn’t overcome a cold shooting night as they fell behind early and never recovered in a 54-41 loss Monday afternoon to second-seeded Pleasant Hope at the Lebanon Holiday Tournament.
The Lady Tigers didn’t get a single point from their guards until Shelbi Moore and Danielle Pounds hit 3-pointers in the final 40 seconds of the game. Senior Kendra Welch was held scoreless.
“I don’t think I’ll ever see our guards held scoreless like that,” Houston coach Brent Kell said. “We had good looks. It was just one of those days when the ball wouldn’t go in.”
It was a reversal of fortunes for Houston. In Saturday’s opening-round game against Buffalo, the Lady Tigers shot a sizzling 65.6 percent en route to a 61-43 victory.
“It was a tale of two games,” Kell said.
Houston faced Ava at 1 p.m. Tuesday in the fifth-place bracket. Results were unavailable at presstime.
Houston’s offensive struggles allowed Pleasant Hope, coached by Houston graduate Jim Flora, to take command from the get-go. The Lady Tigers were outscored 15-4 in the opening quarter and by eight in the second as they trailed 29-10 at the half.
“They got off early, and we couldn’t throw it in the ocean,” Kell said. “I thought we played better in the second half, but you can’t dig yourself a 19-point deficit and expect to come back from it very often.”
Senior center Holly Thomas scored 20 points, and forward Erica Keeney had 11 for Houston.
On Saturday, Thomas had 25 points and Welch added 16 for the Lady Tigers, who led 16-7 after the first quarter and by 22 at the half.
Monday’s game
Houston 4 6 13 18 – 41
Pleasant Hope 15 14 12 13 – 54
HOUSTON – Moore 1 0-0 3. Pounds 1 0-1 3. MKell 1 2-2 4. Thomas 9 2-3 20. Keeney 5 1-5 11. Totals 17 5-11 41.
PLEASANT HOPE – Carpenter 2 0-0 4. Richardson 1 2-2 4. Benson 3 0-0 8. Sayre 2 0-0 5. McCurry 10 2-2 25. Totals 22 4-4 54.
3-pointers: Houston 2 (Moore, Pounds); Pleasant Hope 6 (McCurry 3, Benson 2, Sayre).
Saturday’s game
Houston 16 21 14 10 – 61
Buffalo 7 8 15 13 – 43
HOUSTON – Moore 0 1-2 1. Pounds 1 2-4 4. Welch 7 0-0 16. MKell 2 0-0 4. Thomas 9 7-7 25. Pierce 1 0-0 2. Keeney 3 3-5 9. Totals 23 13-18 61.
BUFFALO – Schmidt 3 1-2 10. Lankford 1 0-0 3. Davidson 3 3-8 10. DeMuri 2 2-4 6. Pierce 3 3-6 9. Haefner 3 3-6 9. Brown 1 0-0 3. Totals 13 11-22 43.
3-pointers: Houston 2 (Welch 2); Buffalo 6 (Schmidt 3, Lankford, Davidson, Brown).
