The Smithville Lady Tigers made a meal out of the Sealy Lady Tigers.

Smithville won the battle of the Tigers, pulling out a 56-41 win in their home gym to clench the program its 17th trip to the playoffs.

“It was a good all-around game for us with positive contributions from everyone,” said head coach Robin Ramsay. “Our turnovers were down, our rebounds were up and those are the two things that we’ve been focusing on. Also, our guards did a good job of penetrating and finding our posts, who worked very hard to get open.”

Smithville got off to a quick start, outscoring its opponent 19-11 in the first quarter.

This lead gave the Lady Tigers (19-9, 5-3 District 25-3A) a good cushion, keeping Sealy from getting ahead for the rest of the game.

With 4:42 remaining in the first half, the score was 25-13 Smithville.

Just in the first few minutes of the second quarter, they had outscored Sealy 6-2.

Smithville’s Maygan Washington, who totaled with an impressive eight points coming off the bench, got a field goal for her team with 2:54 remaining in the half.

Thirty seconds later, Jaimie Kadlecek, who had a team-high12 points, made a field goal herself.

With 1:39 to go, Washington made another quick basket and sent the Lady Tigers into the locker room with a 10-point lead.

Smithville’s Taylor Homuth made the first basket of the second half, getting a field goal with 7:07 remaining in the third quarter.

Shortly after, Ariel Vinklarek made a quick bucket herself.

In the last half of the quarter, Smithville was able to score seven points, with contributions from Megan Weinheimer, who totaled with four points, Taylor Weldon, who had 7, and Kadlecek.

Meanwhile, Sealy was only able to score two points and Smithville had built an 18-point lead going into the final period.

With 5:28 remaining in the game, Colline Morrell, who had nine points, made a field goal. About a minute later, she was fouled, making one-of-two free throws.

After Morrell’s second free-throw shot, which was the one she missed, teammate Washington rebounded the ball and made a quick basket.

Seconds later, Trina Deyo, who totaled with seven points, made a steal and got a quick basket of her own. Less than a minute later, she got another basket.

In the last couple minutes of the game, Sealy tried to catch up, getting nine points, including two three-pointers.

Even though it was their only quarter to outscore the Lady Tigers, it was not enough to get ahead of Smithville’s 15-point lead.

Giddings

The Lady Tigers were not able to hold up to the tough and athletic Giddings Lady Buffaloes last Friday, falling short 62-51 away from home.

“It was a tough game – very physical,” Ramsay said. “We played good defense except for the third quarter. And we had way too many turnovers in the first half. Blakelee (Saunders) was unable to play due to a foot injury and that hurt us on both ends of the floor, but I was very proud of the way our kids stepped up to fill her role.”

Kadlecek had a game-high 18 points and Deyo followed her with 11.

Other scoring players were Taylor Weldon (8), Morrell (6), Madison Hannusch (3), Faith Ralph (2), Vinklarek (2) and Saunders (1).

“We seem to be coming out of our slump and playing with more energy,” Ramsay said. “We are looking forward to the playoffs.”