Lady Tigers fall to Reardan

Odessa 36, Lady Indians 59

ODESSA — The Lady Tigers fell under pressure from the tough defense of Reardan Tuesday.

Odessa's youth — there is only one senior on the squad and she has not played in three years — and the 23 turnovers the team committed conspired against the Lady Tigers in the loss.

Despite the final score, head coach Blaine Downey was happy with his team's effort against a stifling Reardan club.

"I'm pleased with our offense," said Downey. "Tonight we doubled the scores we had against the big teams — Northwest Christian and Liberty Bell. We only scored 17 points in each of those games."

Odessa's Raye Galloway opened the second half with a jump shot to make it 38-22 and had her shot followed by a putback from Jana Jasman.

The Lady Tigers continued to battle, despite the point deficit, with solid play from Stephanie Wilson who sank a long jumper just inside the arc and Jordan Frederick who earned a steal and layup to cut the Reardan lead to 19 with under two minutes to play in the third.

Frederick opened the fourth quarter with a long jump shot for the Lady Tigers.

It was the only field goal for Odessa until the two-minute mark. Both teams struggled from the field during the course of the quarter, with Reardan earning just seven points in the period, five of which came at the free throw line.

Odessa pushed for a late surge with Galloway finding Frederick under the hoop for a bucket followed by a basket from Hope Janssen. Janssen's shot was the last basket for the Lady Tigers.

"Each game we're looking better," said Downey. "I thought we played very well. We're really young."

In the early going, Odessa found themselves down 4-0 before evening it with back-to-back buckets by Jasman. The Lady Tigers then endured an 8-0 scoring run by Reardan.

Corinne Kinney snapped the streak with a jump shot to make it 12-6 with under four minutes to play in the first quarter. Frederick found Jaylene Jasman for the next Odessa basket.

The Lady Tigers then saw Reardan extend the lead further with two more buckets to end the period 19-9.

Frederick opened the second quarter with a 3-ball for Odessa but it would be the last basket the Lady Tigers would earn for nearly four minutes. Frederick earned the next basket with another 3-pointer to make it a 17-point game and found Galloway on the next trip downcourt for a layup.

Galloway scored Odessa's last basket of the half on a pass from Jana Jasman.

Frederick led the Lady Tigers with 12 points and four rebounds. Jana Jasman earned 10 points and 3 boards for Odessa. Galloway had six points and seven boards in the game. Jaylene Jasman racked up three rebounds and five steals. Kinney had four boards and three steals.