The Houston Lady Tigers were ahead by 22 points, but their coach wasn’t happy. He called a timeout to share his frustration.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat lack of hustle,” HHS coach Brent Kell said. “I wasn’t happy with our intensity.”
Kell twice called timeouts in the third quarter to get his team playing the right style. The Lady Tigers did and cruised to a 67-30 victory Monday night against Eminence inside Hiett Gymnasium.
Kell’s concerns were the same ones he saw in Houston’s 64-53 loss to Fair Grove at the Cabool Shootout to open the season Saturday.
“I thought we played hard for 26 of the 32 minutes,” Kell said of Monday’s win. “There were a couple letdowns in intensity. We’re not there yet, but I think we will be.”
The Lady Tigers scored 19 of the game’s first 22 points and had a commanding 38-15 edge at the half.
Senior Sarah Kelley led the offensive charge with 19 points. Combined with 18 points in the season opener, she is 61 points shy of 1,000 for her career.
Alyssa Hayes added 12 points off the bench and Abby Casper had nine points and five steals.
Led by the post trio of Kelley, Hayes and Kaitlyn Root, the Lady Tigers grabbed 22 offensive rebounds. Kelley led the team with 13 rebounds while Root and Hayes had seven apiece.
“We’ve got a lot of pieces inside that can do some harm,” Kell said.
On Saturday, Houston shot 36.6 percent from the field in the 11-point loss to Fair Grove in the one-game shootout in Cabool.
Kelley led the team with 18 points and nine rebounds. Jaydin Ramsey hit a pair of 3-points and scored 12 points.
“I thought we played a lot of selfish basketball, and that gets you beat,” Kell said. “When we get the ball moving, we’re fun to watch and play pretty well.”
BOX SCORES
Monday’s game
Eminence 5 10 10 5 – 30
Houston 19 19 17 22 – 67
HOUSTON (67) – Kaitlyn Root 4. Shelby Cremer 2. Krista Scott 2. Abby Casper 9. Stephani Crewse 6. Makayla Koch 4. Sarah Kelley 19. Jaydin Ramsey 5. Emily Shea 4. Alyssa Hayes 12. FG 30. FT 7-12. F 21. (3-pointers: none. Fouled out: none).
Saturday’s game
Houston 12 17 7 17 – 53
Fair Grove 19 17 11 17 – 64
HOUSTON (53) – Kaitlyn Root 4. Shelby Cremer 2. Abby Casper 8. Stephani Crewse 2. Makayla Koch 2. Sarah Kelley 18. Jaydin Ramsey 12. Emily Shea 3. Alyssa Hayes 2. FG 14. FT 23-32. F 19. (3-pointers: Ramsey 2, Casper. Fouled out: none).