Cats beat Dothan to win area championship

The Class 7A No. 5-ranked Enterprise Wildcats defeated the Dothan Wolves Saturday, Jan. 29, 59-51 to claim the area crown and earned the right to host the area tournament beginning Tuesday, Feb. 8.

The Cats led 14-7 going into the second quarter and scrambled for a 29-26 lead at the half despite Dothan outscoring Enterprise 19-15 in the second quarter. Enterprise came back strong in the second half leading the Wolves 46-34 going into the fourth quarter and held on for a 59-51 win.

Enterprise struggled from three-point range going just 1 of 11 but shot 39.3 percent from the floor to Dothan’s 35.4 percent. The Cats just barely topped the Wolves in rebounds 36-34 with 14 of Enterprise’s rebounds coming on the offensive end of the court and 22 on the defensive. The largest deficit in the game was in transition points. The Cats managed 18 points while the Wolves had six. Enterprise also had 20 points off turnovers.

Senior Elijah Terry led the Cats with 23 points and eight rebounds followed by senior Ken Mitchell with 14 points. Senior Tomar Hobdy also had eight rebounds.

Dothan was led by Jamariion Palm with 15 points and eight rebounds. Thomas Dowd had 10 points and 15 rebounds.

Enterprise stumbled on the road on Jan. 25 falling to the Eufaula Tigers 60-51.

Enterprise led 17-15 going into the second quarter but fell behind 31-30 at halftime. The Cats retook the lead 42-41 going into the fourth quarter, but the Tigers dominated the final period outscoring Enterprise 17-9 to pick up the win.

Enterprise struggled at the free throw line, knocking down just 9-of-17 attempts, and turned the ball over 23 times in the loss. Eufaula also won the war on the boards outrebounding Enterprise 36-32.

Terry led the way with a career-high 27 points, 16 rebounds and four steals, while senior Quentin Hayes added 10 points. Mitchell scored six points, as well.

The Lady Cats also stumbled on the road against Eufaula falling 54-34 on Jan. 25. The two sides were all knotted at 10-10 after one quarter but the Lady Tigers outscored Enterprise 12-7 in the second quarter to take a 22-17 halftime lead. Eufaula then dominated the second half holding Enterprise to under 10 points in both the third and fourth quarters and outscoring the Lady Cats 32-17 in the half.

Enterprise’s Serenity Page, Jaida Gosha and Dashia Nelson scored six points each in the loss.

The Lady Cats bounced back, however, on Jan. 27 and gained a measure of revenge in the process. Enterprise lost to defending Class 1A State Champion Ponce de Leon (Fla.) to open the season but came back to win 41-31 in the rematch at home on Jan. 27.

Ponce de Leon held on to a 10-9 lead going into the second quarter but Enterprise outscored Ponce de Leon 11-7 in the second quarter to take a 20-17 lead into halftime. The third quarter was all Enterprise, though, as the Lady Cats outscored Ponce de Leon 10-1 to take a 30-18 lead in to the final period. Ponce de Leon did manage to outscore Enterprise 14-11 in the fourth quarter but it wasn’t enough.

The Lady Cats were led by Gosha with 19 points, while Nelson added 11 points in the win.

The Lady Cats will also host the area tournament beginning Monday, Feb. 7.