Kevin Henry was tired of watching his Port Arthur Memorial Lady Titans lose basketball games.
Memorial ended a three-game District 21-6A losing streak Friday with a 45-40 win over Deer Park. The Lady Titans (16-12, 6-4) needed this one because the Lady Deer are one of the teams trying to catch Memorial in the standings. Deer Park is now 3-6 in 21-6A and 8-12 overall.
“It was a big win,” Henry said. “It was bigger because it ends that losing streak. It feels good to get back on the winning side of things.”
Henry had multiple players step up big on the day Jakeira Ford had knee surgery to repair a torn ACL.
Channel Hamilton scored a game-high 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting and was a perfect 6 of 6 from the free throw line.
Deer Park climbed to within 31-27 at the end of the third off a three-pointer from Miranda Romero. Romero, along with April Garcia, led Deer Park with nine points.
Memorial’s Victoria Brown (eight points, five rebounds) answered to start the fourth with a trey of her own and Autumn Jones followed Brown with a bucket to stretch the Lady Titans lead to 36-27. Jones finished the game with 11 points.
Deer Park’s Keely Price later in the fourth drained a shot to climb the Lady Deer back to within three at 41-38.
Hamilton answered the call with a basket and two free throws to stretch the lead to 45-38.
Each team had two turnovers through the rest of the game and Deer Park was never able to catch up to the Lady Titans.
“This was a big win,” Babineaux said. “We needed this one because we are still fighting to get in the playoffs. The losing was hard. I know my team. We are always going to play.”
Memorial did not shoot the ball well and for the game was 14 of 42 from the field. The Lady Titans only hit 3 of 13 shots from behind the arc, Brown hit two on six attempts. Memorial hit 14 of 20 from the charity stripe.
Teliah Joyce scored six points and recorded five rebounds while both Kennedi Lofton and Antonirria Beasley each had four points and five rebounds. Lofton had two blocks.
Henry pointed to his team’s defensive effort as the difference-maker against Deer Park.
“I told them it was a total effort,” Henry said. “We had a lot of girls step in and play well. We had a few nice defensive stands to start the fourth. The first possession they had to take two minutes off the clock before they could take a shot.”
Memorial plays at Baytown Sterling on Tuesday.