Pressure point: Fast-paced Lady K’s outrun Tors

Published 11:07 am Wednesday, December 22, 2021

: South Beauregard’s Jalyn Williams dribbles along the baseline past the Tors’ Payton Prince during a nondistrict game Tuesday night in Sulphur. Williams scored 11 points. (Rodrick Anderson / American Press)

SULPHUR — After a couple of early deficits, South Beauregard turned up the pressure to come away with a 54-41 nondistrict win over the host Tors on Tuesday evening.

“We have to run the ball,” South Beauregard head coach Susan Johnson said. “Sulphur likes to slow the game down, and we don’t play a slowpaced game.

“We knew that coming in. Once we started getting the ball off the rim or out of bounds and running, it was fine. But if we have to slow the ball down, then we struggle.”

Down 5-4 after a 3-pointer by Sulphur’s Jaylen Coleman, the Lady K’s (11-4) went on an 11-0 run and forced the Tors into 11 turnovers in the first quarter. South Beauregard never trailed the rest of the game.

“That was the game plan because we know Sulphur is a half-court set team, and they execute well,” Johnson said. “Our goal was not to let them set up and execute a play.”

South Beauregard’s Dayla Simon hit a bucket with 2:27 left in the first quarter for a 15-5 lead. Simon finished with 12 points and led a trio of Lady K’s in double figures. Guard Jalyn Williams had 11 points, including a pair of key 3-pointers in the third quarter. Forward Kenzie Hudler finished with 15 points and nine rebounds.

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Despite the turnovers, Sulphur (7-10) cut South Beauregard’s lead to three points with 46 seconds left in the opening quarter on a Myah Talbert 3-pointer.

Twice in the third quarter the Tors cut South Beauregard’s lead to four points with their inside game. Junior forward Emma Thomson scored nine of her 17 points in the quarter and had a double-double with 10 rebounds.

“With them playing man (defense), we knew our inside game should be able to score,” Sulphur head coach Carol Turner said. “Emma came through for us big in that third quarter, scoring some buckets and getting to the free-throw line.”

Thomson hit two free throws with 3:19 left in the quarter to narrow South Beauregard’s lead to 38-34, but the Tors turned the ball over six times to close out the quarter and went 9 minutes without a field goal.

“We were right there with them even with turning the ball over,” Turner said. “At the end of the third, it was (close), then we struggled again in the fourth quarter with the press and turnovers.

“Even when we were able to beat the press and get past half court, we were still turning the ball over in transition. I think we see some really good glimpses in stretches, then we have moments of breakdown where we are not thinking about what is coming next. When you are not thinking at a varsity-level pace, it is hard to be reactive.”