By Kevin Eckleberry

kevin.eckleberry@lagrangenews.com

They’re on the board.

After dropping their season opener to Spalding County on Friday, the Troup Lady Tigers evened their record with a 40-32 victory over visiting East Coweta on Saturday.

In Friday’s game, Troup started slowly, and it trailed 29-11 at the half.

In the second half, the Lady Tigers found their footing, and they scored 29 points, with 21 of those points coming in the fourth quarter.

“We started off slow and had some turnovers,” said Troup head coach Carla Thornton. “We were a little nervous. But I told my girls we were proud. I’m big on energy and effort, and it was there. We finished the game strong. If we’d played the second half like we played the first, we probably would have won the game. So I was happy with that.”

Jada Green led Troup with nine points, and Kiya Fulton added eight points.

In Saturday’s game, Troup used a strong fourth quarter to pull away from East Coweta.

Troup led by four points through three periods, and went up by as many as nine points in the final quarter before winning by eight.

Aundracia Riggins was in double digits with 11 points for Troup, and Jedda Madden had nine points.

Fulton and Green scored eight points apiece.

Valerie Smith scored 10 seconds into the fourth quarter to give Troup a 33-27 lead, and it led by at least six points the rest of the way.

Troup’s biggest lead of the quarter came on a Fulton free throw with 2:10 remaining.

Leading by seven late, the Lady Tigers did a nice job of moving the ball around and they were able to run more than a minute off the clock before Fulton scored with 21 seconds left to give Troup a 40-31 lead.

Thornton is relying on a number of inexperienced players, and she believes in their ability to get the job done.

“We’re still real young,” she said. “I’ve got two players who have played a lot of varsity. Everybody else is kind of new to it. So I’ve told them, it’s your turn. I’ve got faith in you. Have faith in yourself.”

Thornton said she has been pleased with the effort in practices, and the two games.

“They’re hard workers,” Thornton said. “I’m excited.”