Lady Tigers dominate Cougars

ENTERPRISE —Class 6A’s ninth-ranked Dothan Lady Tigers had a little business to take care of Thursday before getting down to more a serious matter — facing fellow area contemporary Enterprise.

The Tigers set up a third meeting with the Wildcats by easily beating overmatched city rival Northview 78-26 in the opening game of the Class 6A, Area 5 Tournament at Enterprise State.

Dothan (23-2) meets Enterprise (18-7) Saturday at 6 p.m. for the area tournament title and the right to host a sub-region game next Thursday.

Enterprise had a first-round bye in the tournament after finishing area regular-season play tied with Dothan and winning a coin flip.

The two last met on Jan. 15 in Enterprise with the Wildcats winning 57-56. It was Dothan’s first loss of the season.

“That is motivation,” Dothan head coach Debbie McCauley. “That one-point loss to Enterprise has given us motivation to play our hearts out on Saturday.”

Before turning attention to Enterprise, Dothan first had to face Northview, a young team with little depth (just seven players) that the Tigers easily beat three times already this season.

Despite the obvious mismatch, McCauley said the focus was strictly on Thursday and nothing else.

“I wanted to get a win so we could advance our season to Saturday to face Enterprise,” McCauley said of her team’s approach.

Though the opportunity existed to work on weaknesses, the first-year Tiger coach said she didn’t try to experiment or fool around.

“Stay on one game and keep them focused,” McCauley said.

After struggling offensively in the first four minutes, Dothan warmed up and the Tigers’ full-court press became assertive.

Dothan opened up an 11-0 lead with 3:29 to go in the quarter and led 15-3 at the quarter break.

The Tigers quickly ended any doubts about the outcome early in the second quarter, scoring eight straight points in the first minute and half, keyed by three steals off the press.

Dothan’s defensive pressure was a factor throughout, leading to 29 steals and forcing six other Cougar turnovers.

The Tigers held Northview without a field goal in the second quarter until the final seconds when Ashley Gibbs hit a 3-pointer, leaving them in complete control at halftime, 41-7.

Six different players had five or more points in the half for Dothan, led by Doroteya Jackson with 10 and Jasmine Cantlope with eight.

McCauley played the starters for only a few minutes early in the third quarter before pulling them for the rest of the night.

Northview, after struggling through the first three quarters,  finished on a strong note in the final quarter.

The Cougars scored 10 of the first 13 points and held their own overall, being outscored only 15-13 in the period.

Eleven of 12 Dothan players scored and all 12 had a rebound in the game. Jackson led with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Brittany Walker had 12 points.
Mayia Williams and Cantlope followed with eight points each and Cantlope had 11 rebounds.

Ten Dothan players had at least a steal with Whitney McLoyd earning seven.

Northview, which finished the year 5-20, was led by Ashley Merritt with nine points.

“We played a little slack,” McCauley said of the overall performance of her team. “We were OK in some spots and there were areas where I feel we really, really need to work on.

“I felt good about the press. We get a lot accomplished with that and that is one of our strongest points, but we need to work on our weakness, boxing out and rebounding.

“I wasn’t too happy about their guards taking the ball out of our big people’s hands.”

She expects a different Dothan team to show up on Saturday.

“We looked a little sluggish, but we will be ready to go Saturday night,”