HANCEVILLE, Ala.- An inspiring season for Meek’s young Lady Tigers has come to an end.
In the third matchup of Monday’s NW Regionals, the no. 7 Meek Lady Tigers met no. 3 Marion County, led by three-level scoring senior Jolie Kate Cox. After going into the half with a commanding lead, Marion was able to fend off any comeback attempts in the second half and Cox finished with 31 points to earn Tournament MVP after the 68-51 Marion County win.
A thrilling first quarter with back and forth scoring from both ends ended in a 20-20 tie. In the second, however, the Raiders began to take charge.
It began much like the opening frame, with Meek’s Zarah Harden going back and forth with Cox in scoring. Mid-way through the quarter, mistakes began to pile up for the Lady Tigers, and a seasoned Marion County took advantage. On three straight Meek possessions, errant passes sailed out of bounds or were picked off by Raiders and taken the other way, giving Cox opportunities in the paint and guard Bekah Junkin space to hit a mid-range jumper. The run would propel the Raiders to a 41-28 lead at the half, with 11 points scored off turnovers and 24 coming in the paint.
In the second half, Marion County would defend their lead until the very end, out-rebounding and out-shooting the Lady Tigers. A strong rebounding team, Marion County notched 37, with Meek out-rebounding them in the end with 46. The Raiders were led in both scoring and rebounding by Cox, who finished with a 31-point, 14-rebound double-double.
“I feel like rebounding definitely hurt us. We had more turnovers than we usually do- Marion County’s number 55 (Cox) was hard to stop, I feel like we did a good job taking away the threes, she usually hits a lot of threes, we did a good job of taking away that as well as some of their other outside shooters,” head coach Britney Williams said after the loss.
In 2024-25, the Lady Tigers went 11-15 and failed to make the postseason. They turned it around this year, finishing with a 25-5 record and made their first Elite Eight appearance since 2020. With the emergence of Harden, who will return alongside Addi Cate Henderson and Zoe Hearn among others, Meek’s varsity girls should be a force for years to come.
“We’ve got a lot of girls who put in a lot of time outside of the season, playing travel ball and training. We keep telling them to put in that extra work, that it’s paying off. We had players that came back, stayed invested, we had seniors that invested in our program. It’s a good group of girls, they love each other and that makes a difference,” said Williams.
Harden finished the game with an 18-point, 12-rebound double-double and Henderson ended the game with nine points and six rebounds, with both being selected for the All-Tournament team.
