Purvis had made a habit of comebacks in the playoffs this season. This time, their comeback fell just short as they were defeated by the Raymond Lady Rangers 46-41 at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum Friday evening.
"First, I'm so proud of what we accomplished as a team this year. We dug ourselves into a hold there in the first half getting down by 10 points. We made a great comeback in the third quarter, but our poor shooting hurt us tonight. I don't think we shot 50% from the free-throw line. It was hard to overcome that," said Purvis Lady Tornado head coach Michael Thornton.
Purvis' offense did indeed start sluggish as they only generated eight points in the first period. A Brianna Lowe jumper pulled Purvis within three, 11-8, near the end of the period, but back-to-back buckets from Raymond's Zykeria Anderson gave the Rangers a 15-8 after one period of play.
Anderson and company kept the pressure on in the second period, pulling to a double-digit lead, 26-12, with 2:46 to play. Jumpers from Karson Suire and Bethany Johnson, along with a made free throw from Andee Robertson brought the score back to single-digits as the period ended, 26-17.
The halftime break energized the Lady Tornadoes offense as they came out if the gate with an 11-2 run with baskets from Robertson that included a three, along with buckets from Jaelyn Bass, Suire, and Lowe to tie things up 28-28. Two free throw shots from Raymond's Leah Sutton and a three-point basket from Anderson gave the Rangers a 33-30 lead to end the period.
Despite Purvis closing within three, and even two points during the fourth period, Anderson was too much for the Tornadoes as she closed the final period for Raymond with 10 points of her own, sealing the win and trip to Jackson for the Lady Rangers.
"We were down 10 but tied things up in the third quarter. We felt good about the situation at the time. I thought in the fourth quarter though, we took some bad shots and we couldn't make shots when we needed to," said Thornton about the final two periods.
Despite the loss, Thornton believes the senior Lady Tornadoes class has laid a great foundation from what Purvis Lady Tornado basketball was before they arrived on campus.
"Karson and Bree, they did such a great job. They played so hard, and we are going to miss them. Purvis basketball was frankly a laughing stock a few years ago, but I think this senior class of girls has made Purvis basketball relevant."
Purvis ends their season with a 24-10 overall record.
