LaFayette girls beat SSHS 44-19 in team effort

Published 11:47 pm Thursday, December 20, 2018

SMITHS STATION — On a night with one of the largest-margin wins of the season, LaFayette girls head basketball coach Michael Bratcher wasn’t blinded by the final score when judging his team’s performance against Smiths Station.

“I felt like, in all honesty, that was probably the worst we’ve played all year,” Bratcher said. “Even though we won by 25, it just wasn’t there. It took so long to get going. Now, they were really big down low, and they had three girls who were just so much bigger than us. But Feliah [Greer] just didn’t have that juice tonight, she got in foul trouble, we weren’t finding the right people at times, it was the little stuff.”

Greer still tied with Ebony Williams as the team’s scoring leader, finishing with 12 points in the effort. Monkeliyah Morgan added seven points, while Alahbra’J Todd, Nadya Heard and Sherriah Thomas also got on the board for the Bulldogs.

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“Nadya Heard gave me some good minutes down there on defense,” Bratcher said. “She was able to physically wear on other people, and Alahbra’J Todd got some good steals out there. Monkeliyah and Daylan [Wright] were active up at the top of the zone, as they normally are. I don’t even know how the points went scoring wise. It was probably a variety, I don’t think we had anybody who had a lot of points.”

The Bulldogs played most of the game on the offensive side of the ball with low energy. Bratcher said that the lack of effort might have been a result of the low attendance on Thursday evening and the fact that the student-athletes are in the midst of taking finals this week before winter break.

“We weren’t playing with that spunk there, and it took a while for us to get that spunk,” he said. “They were never close, but the game never felt comfortable. I think tonight was our way of saying that we were saving it for [Friday] and Saturday, but to me, you can’t save stuff. It’s going to hurt you one day. You have to play a little harder and put on a better show, in my opinion.”

LaFayette takes a one night break from the Panther Holiday Classic at Smiths Station to travel to Ranburne High School for an area matchup on Friday night. On Saturday, the Bulldogs return to the classic to face rival Lanett on Saturday at 2 p.m. CST.