After bouts with injuries and run-ins with team rules, Southeast Lauderdale High School Lady Tigers head coach Dana Buchanan was finally able to trot out a complete roster for her team’s Friday contest against division foe Forest High School.

Southeast Lauderdale (4-13) saw a 13-point halftime lead dissipate in the third quarter and ultimately fell 60-53 at home to the Lady Bearcats. However, even in defeat, Buchanan remained optimistic that the Lady Tigers are in position to make a surge to close the regular season.

“I feel like we’re finally on the same page,” she said after the contest. “The last couple of games — a win and a loss — I felt like we were getting closer and closer to where we needed to be. The Choctaw Central game, we got beat pretty badly here, and I stressed to the kids not to give up, and keep playing hard. It’s all about learning. I always say you learn more losing by 20 than you do winning by 10.”

Kimesha Hopson scored a team-high 24 points for Southeast Lauderdale, and the Lady Tigers were able to inch within two points of tying the score at 54 with 2:58 left in the fourth quarter. The last-quarter effort wasn’t enough, as Forest outscored Southeast Lauderdale 10-6 in the final period to hold onto the victory.

A trio of 3-pointers in the first quarter helped Southeast Lauderdale overcome a 4-0 deficit and carry a 17-10 lead at the end of the quarter. Hopson contributed eight points in the period. 

“We came out and did really well — we boxed out and we hustled,” Hopson, a senior, said of the opening quarter. “We were missing two players, and we finally got everybody back. We did everything we had to do to keep the lead.”

The Lady Bearcats darted out on a 10-4 run within the second quarter’s first four minutes, forcing Buchanan to call timeout with her team clinging to a 21-20 lead. Out of the break, Forest’s Destiny Tower pushed the Lady Bearcats ahead to a 22-21 lead with a jumper with 4:42 in the second quarter. Southeast Lauderdale’s Tajae Davis connected on a jumper with 4:10 in the second quarter to retake the lead, and the Lady Tigers went on a 16-2 run to give Southeast Lauderdale a 39-26 lead at the break.

Forest came out of the half on a 6-0 run before JaCatherine Wilson hit a field goal with 6:19 remaining in the third to make the score 41-32. Hopson made two free throws with just under five minutes in the period, but Forest went on a 9-0 run to trim the deficit to 43-41 with 3:05 left in the third. 

“We just got tired, and our legs got tired,” Hopson said. “We stopped boxing out and stuff like that.”

Buchanan called a timeout following the Lady Bearcats’ ninth point of the run. Orlandrea McGee gave Forest a 45-44 lead with 2:33 left in the third quarter, and Forest carried a 50-46 lead into the fourth quarter, as it outscored Southeast Lauderdale 24-7 in the third period.

Hopson brought Southeast Lauderdale within two points of the lead with a 3-pointer with 2:58 remaining in the game to make the score 54-52.

“We all talked and said that we weren’t going to put our heads down and that we were going to keep hustling, no matter how far we’re down,” Hopson said. “We said we were going to keep pushing ourselves.”

A 10-6 advantage in scoring by Forest in the fourth was enough to power the Lady Bearcats to victory.

Southeast Lauderdale’s Davis ended the evening with 10 points, and Sedaysia Anthony contributed nine.

FOREST BOYS 57,

SE LAUDERDALE 26

The Tigers dropped to 4-2 in district play and 6-10 overall with their 57-26 home loss Friday night to Forest. Thomas Grayson and Joe Watson scored six points apiece — both team-highs — for the Tigers. 

“Forest came out to play, and they did a heck of a job — there’s nothing else to be said,” Tigers head coach Centel Truman said. “They did a great job, and we weren’t ready to play. That’s the difference between a state championship runner-up — they know how to come in and handle business. We didn’t handle business. We let our early success get to us, and we have to start back over and work and get better.”