The Purvis Lady Tornadoes have been no stranger to fast starts under coach Michael Thornton. A year ago, they were 8-3 and benefitting from the play of both upper and underclassmen. This time around, they’re 9-3 without a single senior on their roster.
Of their top nine players, five are freshmen, and that includes two starters (Elise Jackson and Andee Robertson)
“I have to bite my lip sometimes because we have a lot of youth, and they’re going to make mistakes,” Thornton said. “But they’re playing hard and playing with a lot of intensity.”
Though there’s still plenty to work for and improvement to be had, the fourth-year coach believes the program is in newfound territory. “I think we’ve reached the point at Purvis now where it’s not an easy W for a team to come into this gym and win.”
St. Patrick experienced that Tuesday night, as the Lady Tornadoes picked up a convincing, 62-31 victory over the Fighting Irish to improve to 9-3 on the year. Using man-to-man press, Purvis jumped out to a 29-3 lead in the second quarter to essentially put the game away early, but St. Patrick managed to trim the lead to 21 points multiple times the rest of the way.
“We really played well early,” Thornton said. “I thought, at times, in the game later we got stagnant and lost a little bit of our edge we had when we pressed.
“One of the things we have to improve on is keeping the intensity even if we’re not pressing. And we’ve got to cut down on our turnovers. Our ball-handling is hurting us at times.”
All told, the Lady Tornadoes turned the ball over 31 times, according to MaxPreps. Elise Jackson made up for some of that with a game-high seven steals on the defensive end of the floor. She also led the way offensively for Purvis with 16 points on two made free throws and several fast break baskets.
“Elise is very good in the open floor and one of the fastest players I’ve coached in the 32 years I’ve been a head coach,” Thornton said.
Karson Suire added 13 points and Bree Lowe 12 rebounds for the Lady Tornadoes, who will travel to Resurrection Catholic on Thursday.
St. Patrick Fighting Irish 36, Purvis Tornadoes 26
The Tornadoes connected on just two field goals the first 14 minutes of the game, but a 6-0 scoring run to end the first half left them trailing by only five points, 16-11, at halftime.
St. Patrick’s lead shrunk to four midway through the third quarter, but the Fighting Irish closed the period strong, building a nine-point advantage that stood the remainder of the contest.
Damon Anderson and Trell Camp led Purvis with six points apiece.
