Lady Wildcats hold off Cougars

Enterprise girls basketball coach Melissa White didn’t have any words of wisdom at halftime. Instead, she let a couple of seniors have their say.

“The seniors said this wasn’t going to be their last game,” White said.

As it turns out, Enterprise is still very much alive.

The Wildcats erased a six-point halftime deficit in the early minutes of the second half, then held on for dear life in the final minutes to beat Northview 56-50 in the Class 6A, Area 5 tournament at Dothan High on Thursday night.

Enterprise (15-9) will now face host-school Dothan in the area championship game on Saturday night at 6. 
Northview ends its season at 9-18.

While Enterprise found a way to get it done on the offensive side late in the game, it was on defense that the Wildcats likely won the game.

After Northview senior Kacey Frazier got off to a hot start — scoring the Cougars’ first nine points in the opening quarter — she only managed three more points the rest of the game. Alannah Vincent, also a strong scorer for the Cougars, was held to 12 points in the game.

“We played a little man on 20 (Vincent), and played a semi-man on 44 (Frazier) so she couldn’t get loose,” White said. “Wherever she was, a man was in her face.”

The Cougars were the aggressors late in the first half, building a 28-19 lead after Amanda Stefin scored on a putback to end a 7-0 scoring run.

Enterprise took some momentum into the dressing room at halftime when Ashton Coleman hit a jumper in the lane right before the buzzer sounded, making it 30-24 at the break.

Coleman led all scorers in the game with 18 points, while the Wildcats got 12 from Elisha Campbell.

The Wildcats knotted the score at 35-35 on two free throws by Coleman late in the third quarter, then took the lead when Campbell connected on another free throw.

But Northview held a 38-36 lead going into the fourth quarter following two made free throws by Frazier and one by Vincent.

After Vincent scored the first basket of the final quarter, Enterprise went on a quick 8-0 run to take a lead it would never relinquish.

Campbell started the run with a nice drive to the basket for a score. She then hit the first of two free throw tries to pull the Wildcats within 40-39. She missed the second free throw, but got her own rebound and went up to score to put Enterprise ahead by one.
Emily Davis then drained a 3-pointer from the wing to put Enterprise up 44-40.

With just over three minutes to play, Enterprise began trying to run some clock by spreading the floor and running a motion offense near the midcourt line.

Enterprise was up 48-43 after a free throw by Coleman, but then Northview got a big play from Brittany Brown as she scored inside while being fouled. Brown then hit the free throw to pull Northview within 48-46 with 1:33 left. Brown scored 11 in the game.

With 49 seconds left, Northview was still just two behind (50-48) following a Vincent drive to the basket.

Enterprise’s Tiquaysha Miller then began showing her offensive skills.

Miller answered Vincent’s basket by scoring inside. After Northview’s Whitney Watford scored on a layup, it was Miller scoring on a layup to make it 54-50 with 11 seconds left.

Miller would also score the final points of the game, hitting a layup right before time expired.

“No. 11 (Miller) played big for us tonight,” White said. “She stepped up. We had some girls in foul trouble, and others really came through.”