HANCEVILLE, Ala.- The Meek Lady Tigers faced off with the 25-8 Brilliant Lady Tigers in the first game of the ASHAA Northwest Regionals on Tuesday morning at Tom Drake Coliseum. While Brilliant’s roster had an advantage in age and experience, the young Lady Tigers pulled off an impressive 63-51 win to advance to the Elite Eight.
Harden, at just 13 years old and 5-foot-8 is already one of Meek’s most consistent scorers, and was tasked with guarding Brilliant’s strongest player and best scorer, 5-11 senior Hadlee Sanderson.
Sanderson got hers, putting up a game-high 25 points and adding five boards, three assists and two steals, but Harden’s tough on-ball defense held her to just 9-27 shooting (33.33%) from the field, including 1-7 (14%) from three.
“I’ve been playing basketball since I was four years old, and always being a strong defensive player, I’ve been working on my offense, but I always played defense against the bigger girls in AAU,” Harden said, adding “Also, my team cheers me on while I have to guard their best scorers which is very helpful because even when I do mess up they’re really encouraging.”
In addition to her defensive stature, the Lady Tigers had plenty to cheer for on the offensive end for Harden, too. She’d score 23 points total, shooting an efficient 7-11 (63%) from the floor and 2-3 (66.66%) from deep, adding nine rebounds, two assists and one steal and block each.
After the game went into halftime deadlocked at 29, Harden’s all-around game was helped by Addie Cate Henderson and Zoe Hearn’s effort to pull away late. Henderson would finish the game with 11 points, and Hearn put up 14, but the trio of young Tigers emerged especially in their perimeter defense.
Taking care of business on their end, Meek went 4-9 from the floor in the fourth, and held Brilliant to just two field goals on ten attempts late. While Brilliant’s Brooke O’Mary became a threat late, picking pockets and making tough, driving layups to finish with 18 points, Meek would seal the game, fittingly, with a pair of Zarah Harden free throws.
“I’m just really proud of how well we came out and executed our game plan. They fought minute by minute. We talked in the locker room about trying to not win the game all at once, but to take it minute by minute, focus on the next moment, focus on the next play. I’m just proud of how hard they played. They didn’t quit, you know, when they made mistakes they didn’t lay down. They got right back at it the next play,” head coach Britney Williams said.
The Meek Lady Tigers will advance to play the winner of Athens Bible vs. Marion County, who will take the court at noon today.
