By Todd Wills
No pressure, right?
Tauren Kitchen went to the free throw line with nine seconds left Monday night with the Lady Tigers tied with North Mesquite, 34-34, and looking for their first win of the season.
“Really I just thought about it being practice and no one was in the gym,” she said.
Kitchen missed the first one, but made the second, lifting the Lady Tigers to a 35-34 victory over Class 5A North Mesquite at Tiger Gym.
Afterward, the team gathered around to sing the school song, another touch of school pride being taught by new coach Art Prevost.
For the Lady Tigers (1-4), it was a huge moment, especially Kitchen, who made the biggest free throw of her life.
“I took a deep breath, didn’t think about it and shot the shot,” she said. “And said please Lord let me make it.”
The Lady Tigers had struggled early in the season, going 0-3 in their own tournament, but that’s behind them now.
“It meant a lot,” Kitchen said. “It builds us up.”
Corsicana had to execute late to win Monday night. After Kitchen’s free throw, North Mesquite still had time to get down the court and did, but tight defense forced a turnover with 2.5 seconds left in the game.
Senior point guard Amber Ames then took the inbounds pass on a long ball at half court and was able to dribble out the clock as the Lady Tigers won a close one.
“You want to win close games,” Prevost said. “Hopefully it puts kids in a situation where they’ve been there before. Then when you are in a big district game or tournament, you don’t panic.”
Prevost said he wasn’t surprised that Kitchen responded well to the pressure.
“As much as I yell at them and get on them,” Prevost said, “I put enough on them that when it’s game time they are ready. There wasn’t any pressure.”
Corsicana trailed 16-9 early in the second quarter but came back to tie the game at 16-16 at the half.
The Lady Tigers almost shut out North Mesquite in the third quarter, holding the Lady Stallions scoreless for the first 7:33 of the period.
Ames had 13 points to lead the Lady Tigers. Kitchen and Jackie Saipongi had six points each. Freshmen Rebecca Bentz and Mariah Farmer had strong games.
It was an overall gritty effort for the Lady Tigers.
“On our board, I had we played hard, we wanted it more than they did and we out-executed them late,” Prevost said. “That’s why we won.”
Corsicana 35, North Mesquite 34
North Mesquite 12 4 3 15 — 34
Corsicana 6 10 5 14 — 35
North Mesquite: Nhaieemah Horne 10, Lauren Meade 5, Paige Donahue 3, Haylie Campbell 1, Ifeoma Egboh 15.
Corsicana: Tauren Kitchen 6, Amber Ames 13, Ashley Sennett 3, Whiteny Smith 2, Aricelia Castaneda 1, Rebecca Bentz 2, Mariah Farmer 2, Jackie Saipongi 6.
Records: Corsicana (1-4). North Mesquite (0-7).
