Tensas let down by offense

Published 12:03 am Saturday, February 21, 2009

FLOWOOD — The Tensas Academy Lady Chiefs did what they needed to do defensively in order to pull off a second straight upset in the Class A State Tournament.

Unfortunately, their offense couldn’t follow suit.

The Lady Chiefs made just 10 shots in 62 attempts and fell to Bayou Academy 39-28 in the semifinals of the tournament.

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Tensas will face Marvell Academy in the consolation game at 1 p.m. today, while Bayou Academy will play Riverdale for the state championship at 2:15.

One game after shooting the ball well in a 47-46 upset of top seeded Delta Academy, the fourth seeded Lady Chiefs couldn’t get anything to fall in Friday’s loss.

“Bayou played good defense on us, but we just had a horrendous game shooting the ball,” Bauerle said. “We went from shooting it well to just horrendous.”

In addition to its 16 percent shooting percentage from the floor, the Lady Chiefs weren’t much better from the free throw line, making just eight out of 20 attempts from the charity stripe.

“I don’t want to take anything away from Bayou, they did a good job defensively,” Bauerle said. “But sometimes when you need to make an open shot and they don’t go in, they don’t go in. But Bayou is a good team and they deserved to win the game.”

The Lady Chiefs led 10-6 after the first quarter, but Bayou took the lead in the second quarter, outscoring Tensas 12-4.

Bayou pulled away in the second half, outscoring Tensas 20-14 in the final 16 minutes.

The Lady Chiefs were led by Allie Kate Gossett with nine points, while Mary Elizabeth Crigler chipped in with six.

Alyssa Cummins and Jamie Barrett led Bayou with 15 and 12 points, respectively.

Tensas now turns its attention to Marvell Academy, which lost its semifinal game against Riverdale.

Marvell is the No. 2 seed from the North while Tensas is the No. 4 seed from the South.

“We’re going to have our hands full with Marvell,” Bauerle said. “We will definitely have to play better than we did (against Bayou) in order to win.”