Dougherty Lady Trojan defense steps up against Worth County

ALBANY — The Dougherty Lady Trojans used a strong defense and ravenous rebounding to beat Worth County 48-27 Tuesday night at home.

Worth opened the game on a 6-0 run with the first Dougherty field goal coming with less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter.

The Lady Trojans’ comeback started early in the second quarter. Dougherty went on a 13-2 run and didn’t allow the Lady Rams to score until there was 2:20 left.

Worth received 12 of their 16 first-half points from DeAundra Smith. Lindsey Toneygay scored the team’s other four points. After a solid first quarter, the Lady Rams’ offense struggled through the rest of the game.

“We played pretty well in the first quarter,” Worth County coach John Popham said. “After that, we lost our identity and didn’t do what makes us good and it showed. We lost by 20.”

Dougherty played tough defense after the first quarter, limiting Worth to mostly perimeter shots. The Lady Trojans also grabbed multiple offensive rebounds in the second half leading to second-chance points.

“We’ve just got to work on the little things,” Dougherty coach Khadijah Ali said. “That is what it is, rebounding, boxing out and making good shots. We are just trying to do our best on the little things and keep working on everything else.

“We have a hard time getting into the flow of our offense, so we try to get offensive rebounds that lead to second-chance shots and better opportunities at scoring.”

Offensively, the Lady Trojans outscored Worth 17-5 in the final quarter. The Lady Rams cut the lead to eight early in the fourth quarter, but Dougherty ended the game on a 13-0 run.

Despite the victory, Ali said she thought the defense could have been better in the first half.

“I think we picked up more in the second half,” she said. “I think we started off kind of dry in the first half. We started with a 2-3 zone but didn’t really get anything from it. We switched the defense up a little bit and I think they played much better in the second half.”

Dougherty’s Shy’Keria Williams led all scorers with 22 points.

Smith led Worth County and finished the game with 12 points.

The win was the Lady Trojans’ second of the season.

Worth County boys 59, Dougherty 49

Worth County earned a hard-fought win over Dougherty.

Worth took a 33-27 lead into halftime and pushed it to 45-29 at the start of the fourth quarter.

The momentum took a turn in Dougherty’s favor when Anfernee McLemore blocked a shot and was given a technical after the block. Another technical, this time on the Worth County bench with 5:15 left, swung the game into Dougherty’s favor.

The Trojans cut the lead to 49-45 before Worth scored put the game away with a 10-4 run.

Dougherty’s David Quimby led all scorers with 20 points.

McLemore finished with 18, while Worth’s Brandon Moore added 19.