Roff —  

Kaitlin Hisaw had one of those nights Tuesday against Roff, and she and the Latta defense helped turn it into one long evening for the visiting Lady Tigers.

Hisaw, Latta’s senior point guard, scored a career-high 24 points on 11-of-17 shooting and spearheaded another strong effort on defense for the Lady Panthers, who held Roff to seven field goals and forced 24 turnovers en route to a convincing 47-21 victory. With the win, Latta (No. 18 in Class 2A) improved to 16-5 heading into tonight’s home contest with Lindsay. Roff, meanwhile, dropped to 13-11. 

In the boys contest, Latta parlayed an opportunistic pressure defense and a red-hot shooting performance into a 66-39 victory that left the Panthers at 15-6. The Tigers left town at 7-16. 

GIRLS

Latta 47, Roff 21

Hisaw set the tone early, scoring her team’s first eight points — including four in the first 56 seconds of the game — and all but three in a slow-moving first half that ended with the Lady Panthers on top 13-6. Hisaw, who twice went coast-to-coast with rebounds in an early 6-0 run, was 4-for-4 in the first quarter and 5-for-9 at intermission, but as a team the hosts were a dismal 6-for-25 from the field at the break.

The Latta defense continued to produce, however. After allowing 40 points or more just three times in their first 20 games, the Lady Panthers held the Lady Tigers to 12 shots — nine of them misses — while forcing 13 turnovers in the first 16 minutes. For the game, Roff was the same 6-for-25 from the field that Hisaw and Co. had been in the first half. 

“We did a good job on defense, but we couldn’t throw it in the ocean,” Latta coach David Tinkler said. 

Tinkler’s offense heated up in the second half, connecting on 13-of-26 shots, and the Lady Panthers got 3-pointers from Hisaw, Makenzi Lamb and Taryn Wood during a 19-6 third-quarter run that put the game away. Lamb’s trey from the right wing just 13 seconds into the period off the first of Wood’s six second-half assists started the decisive spurt, then Lamb grabbed her second offensive rebound in a four-shot possession and fed Hisaw for a 10-footer with 6:30 left in the quarter. Hisaw’s basket answered a layup by Roff’s Jordan Grinstead a minute earlier and pushed Latta’s lead to double digits for good at 18-8.

After Siera Green drained a 15-footer off a Hisaw assist at the 5:03 mark, Hisaw took a pass from Wood and drove the baseline for layup with 2:37 left, then she got a steal that turned into a basket by Carlee Henderson 21 seconds later. Wood — who would leave the game with a knee injury with just 1:32 to play — fell on a drive to the basket on the play and, while sitting on the floor, fed Henderson for an eight-footer to make it 24-10.

Henderson added two free throws with 1:17 left in the quarter, and after a putback by Lauren Trimmer 14 seconds later gave the Lady Tigers their first basket in six minutes, Hisaw and Wood both drained 3-pointers in a span of 29 seconds to send Latta to the fourth quarter with a 32-12 lead.

In addition to her career scoring night, Hisaw finished with two rebounds, two assists and three of Latta’s 16 steals. Henderson was also in double figures with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting and added six rebounds, two steals and an assist, and although Lamb and Wood combined to hit just two of 19 shots, they made other contributions in the victory.

Lamb had six rebounds, four assists and a game-high five steals to go with four points, and Wood — who started in place of sophomore defensive whiz Shelbey Parnacher (who suffered a minor injury in Saturday’s victory over Lone Grove) — had seven assists, four rebounds and two steals to go with her 3-pointer in the third quarter.

Latta outrebounded Roff, 29-24, and turned 14 offensive rebounds into eight points. Trimmer hit four of her nine shots to finish with 10 points, and she also grabbed five rebounds for the Lady Tigers, who drew a first-round bye in their district tournament and will face either Bowlegs or Strother in the championship game at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

BOYS

Latta 66, Roff 39

The Panthers started fast in each half, scoring the game’s first seven points en route to a 35-16 lead at intermission and opening the third quarter with an 8-0 spurt capped by Jake Collins’ 3-pointer in transition from the top of the key off a Brogan Cantrell assist with 6:29 left. Cantrell, Latta’s sophomore point guard, had started the period with back-to-back steals that led to two free throws by Brady Johnson at the 7:37 mark and Kade Hayes’ second 3-pointer in less than a minute of game time 29 seconds later.

Roff got 3-pointers from Scott Muntz and Dillon Day and a floater in the lane from Jeremy Grinstead in a span of 85 seconds later in the quarter to trim Latta’s lead to 45-24, but the Panthers got baskets from five different players while forcing turnovers on the Tigers’ final three possessions in the period to build a 56-26 lead heading to the fourth.

Eight different players recorded assists for Latta in the win, including a game-high five from Cantrell (who also had five steals), and the Panthers hit 24-of-41 shots overall. Latta’s starters — Collins, Cantrell, Hayes, Johnson and Trent Storts — were a sensational 15-for-22 from the field and combined for 15 steals and 10 assists before heading to the bench for good late in the third quarter. 

“We wanted to go out and take care of business, and I was really pleased with how we started,” Latta coach Donnie Husband said. “We made shots — you always look good when you make shots.

“We had a lot of steals (18), and that helped,” he added. “As little as we are (the 6-2 Collins is the Panthers’ only starter taller than six feet), we don’t want to slug it out in a half-court game.” 

Hayes hit four of his team’s six 3-pointers (in just nine attempts) and finished with a game-high 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting; Collins hit four of his six shots and finished with 11 points; Johnson grabbed half of his four steals steals on the first two Roff possessions of the night and had two first-half assists to go with 10 points; Cantrell hit his only two shots in the game and scored eight points to go with his game-high totals in steals and assists; and Storts was 3-for-5 from the field for seven points and added two rebounds, two steals and two asssits.

Ryan Stockton and Rylee Davidson had four points apiece off the bench for Latta, with Stockton grabbing a game-high five rebounds (the teams had only 16 apiece) and Davidson adding an assist, a steal and two blocked shots in the win.

Although the Tigers took just 27 shots, they hit 12, but they also turned the ball over 24 times (15 in the first half) to just 11 for the Panthers. Muntz scored 10 of his game-high 15 points in the first half and finished 4-for-7 from the field, and Lonnie Petersen converted three conventional three-point plays and finished with 11 points, three rebounds and a steal.

After tonight’s home doubleheader, both Latta squads will face tough road tests in their final two games. On Saturday, the Lady Panthers and Panthers will travel to Sulphur, where the Latta girls will face the No. 4 team in Class 3A, and next Tuesday Latta will be at Washington, which has the No. 1-ranked boys squad in 3A.

While the Roff girls drew a bye in the first round of their district tournament, the Tigers will take on Bowlegs in an elimination game at 8 p.m. Friday for the right to meet Strother in Saturday night’s championship game.