Sterling overcomes shooting woes, defeats Alex 58-38

STERLING — Sterling overcame a poor first-half shooting performance last Friday to post a runaway 58-38 win over Alex – but it didn’t come easy.

The Lady Tigers, now 15-4 overall, ended the first half tied with Alex 20-20.

“We couldn’t find the hole in the first half,” Sterling head coach Jennifer Garner said. “We pressured them and got turnovers but couldn’t get the points. I told the girls at halftime ‘if we made the shots we should have we’d be up by 15.’”

Apparently, the Lady Tigers listened to their coach and began connecting on their shots as Sterling jumped out to a 37-20 lead four minutes into the third quarter.

“From that point, we blew it open,” Garner said. “I’m proud of ‘em. They came back like we talked about.”

Emma Nunley led Sterling in scoring with 23 points followed by Ashlyn Clift with 11 and Shelby Spence with 10.

Sterling outscored Alex 27-9 in the third quarter and 11-9 in the final eight minutes.

On Monday, Sterling had no issues with scoring as the Lady Tigers defeated Elgin’s junior varsity 57-21 in the first round of the Comanche County Tournament. Sterling faced Chattanooga Thursday night in the semifinal round, but results were not available at press time. Chattanooga defeated Sterling 55-39 in the second game of the season.

Sterling has won its last four games and eight of its last nine. The only loss during that stretch occurred during the semifinals of the Black Diamond Classic against Rush Springs.