Abbeville – St. Martinville Senior High came close, but in the end, fell short against District 5-3A rival Abbeville High in the second round of the Non-Select Division II playoffs Monday. Despite holding the lead at the end of the first quarter and tying the game after falling behind with six minutes left in the contest, SMSH wasn’t able to stop Abbeville from pulling ahead with less than six minutes to go and eventually winning 47-40 to end the 21st seeded Lady Tigers season.
“Their execution and size definitely hurt us,” SMSH coach Ervin Mitchell said. “We knew the game was going to be tight and in the end, we didn’t block out well enough to get the victory.”
The Lady Tigers came out on fire and held an 11-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.
But St. Martinville’s problems started in the second period was Abbeville held SMSH to 4 points in the quarter. The Lady Tigers went into the break trailing 21-15.
“You can’t win the game in the first quarter or the second quarter,” Mitchell said. “You have to play all four quarters.
“In that second quarter, they had a run and the crowd got behind them and the momentum swung real quick. We kind of got too low and got down on ourselves because we lost the lead and we got out of sync.”
SMSH rallied in the second half and eventually tied the game at 3131 with six minutes left in the contest.
But Abbeville outscored the Lady Tigers 16-9 over the final stretch in the fourth quarter to pull away with the win and move on to the quarterfinals.
“They beat us twice in the regular season in district play,” Mitchell said. “And I was hoping the third time would be the charm. But I’m proud of my girls.
“We didn’t want the season to end tonight but we played well all season. Every loss we had, we were in the game and I felt we could have won those games. I’m proud of my girls and an looking forward to next season.”
