By Drew Terhall

DailyAdvocate.com

VERSAILLES — The Versailles High School girls basketball team end their season winning six of their last eight games with a 40-27 win over Covington High School on Feb. 4.

Head coach Tracy White said the team had one of their best defensive performances during the game as they kept up the intensity as they switched defenses.

“It was hands down one of our best four-quarter defensive efforts. Everybody was there. We ran a couple different defenses, the communication was there and when they were cutting, everybody was picking up the cutters,” White said.

The first half started as a defensive battle. Both teams were locked in defensively from the start and didn’t allow much to get past them.

Versailles lost their freshman point guard, Katey Litten, in the first half due to injury. The team had to adjust to losing Litten in the first half.

At halftime, the Lady Tigers had a 16-13 lead. They got some turnovers and converted them into points, but couldn’t get any shots to fall. White said while they couldn’t get any shots to go in, the team didn’t put themselves in great positions to score.

“Early in the first half, we were more stagnant. We were standing with the ball and we were drifting to the corners. The corners are the hardest shot to make in the game of basketball,” White said.

Then the team started to pick it up offensively. Versailles started to accomplish the goals they wanted to complete in this game. White said they wanted to win the rebound battle and move the ball against Covington’s zone. They did just that in the second half.

The guards started to step up in Litten’s absence. White said they told their guards the backside rebounds were open and they took advantage. The ball started to move better and the team started to make more shots.

Versailles played more players than usual with Litten out. All of Lady Tigers picked up their play to get the win.

In her last game at Versailles, senior Lexi Magoto was spark that set off the offense. She had eight points in the third quarter as Versailles scored a total of 15 points in the quarter. White said it was great to see Magoto play great in her last game at Versailles.

“She’s the Energizer Bunny. She’s like a battery, she’s goes, goes and goes,” White said. “She was our spark for sure. It’s nice to be able to get a win at her last home game, but also leading into the postseason.

After outscoring Covington 15-6 in the third quarter, the Lady Tigers continued to play great defense to seal the win.

Magoto led all scorers with 11 points. Junior Allison Schwartz and sophomore Taylor Wagner both had eight points in the game.

Versailles finishes this season with a 12-10 record and a 6-3 conference record. They will open their tournament run with a game against the 13th seed in Houston on Feb. 11 at Covington High School.

White said she hopes the team is peaking at the right time so they can go on a tournament run. From this point on, it’s time to lock in everyday and take it one game at a time for the Lady Tigers.

Contact Daily Advocate sports editor Drew Terhall at [email protected]