By Cody Pastorella
The Nederland Lady Bulldogs went into Tuesday afternoon's contest with the Memorial Lady Titans undersized, as Port Arthur has four players that tower over Nederland's tallest forward.
That clearly showed, as Memorial dominated the glass by outrebounding Nederland 36-18 in the contest. And without starting guards Jordan Hightower and Shaquirra Malveaux (injuries), the Lady Dogs were in big trouble. The Lady Titans bullied Nederland to a 67-33 victory, and improved their season record to 4-2.
Port Arthur has won three straight, including two against Nederland in three days. The two teams met Saturday and Memorial came out on top 61-51. Memorial head coach Tanuya Worthy said her guards definitely took advantage of Malveaux and Hightower's absence, as her team forced the Lady Dogs into 25 turnovers.
"That was a big part of what we did. Without their main point guard, we really were able to beat them man-to-man," said Worthy, whose team will travel to Beaumont on Tuesday to square off with the Ozen Lady Panthers. "We utilized our size offensively and played really well defensively in man-to-man. We're still learning the basics right now but we are improving."
The Titans, who outscored Nederland in each period by at least five points, were led by 6-3 senior post Wendi Mitchell, who tallied a game-high 17 points and added 10 rebounds, a steal and 2 blocks to that total. Freshman guard Ariel Hutchinson followed Mitchell with 12 points. She also picked up 4 steals, 3 assists, 3 rebounds and one block.
Meanwhile, Nederland, which trailed 16-5 after the first period, was led by Logan LeBlanc in points with nine. Senior guard Kaleigh Klein and senior post Krista Mayer each tallied eight points.
The Lady Dogs battled back in the second but lost the quarter 17-12 to go into the halftime break down 33-17. From there, both teams nearly doubled their totals, as Nederland added 16 points to their first half mark and Memorial produced 34 points.
Nederland coach Lawrence Williams said Malveaux should only be out 7-10 days with a bursistis of the knee, while Hightower has likely torn her miniscus or ACL.
He said they were contributing 25 points per game through their first six contest. Both players were injured in their last game, which came in a loss to West Orange-Stark on Monday.
With Tuesday's results, the Lady Dogs fall to 3-5 on the season and will return to action Tuesday in a 6 p.m. bout at Hardin-Jefferson.
