Back on Dec. 7, the Callaway girls’ basketball coach Deyano Martin said his team should have started off the game against the Troup Lady Tigers with full-court pressure.

So in the rematch, that’s just what he did.

Callaway came out pressing from the opening tip.

The pressure rattled the Lady Tigers so much they never really got into the flow of their game as the Lady Cavaliers rolled to a 41-21 victory at Callaway Friday night.

“I wanted to come out tonight and put them pressure on them early and see if they were going to respond to it,” Martin said. “I knew coach (Carla) Thornton was going to work on the press and she did a good job of working on it and they did a better job on the press. I still want to keep the pressure on and that’s going to be our style of play this year.”

The game was quite a contrast from the first game both teams played in early December.

In the first meeting, it was Troup roaring out to a first quarter lead of 10-2.

On Friday, Callaway led at the end of the first stanza 11-2 and never trailed in the game.

Troup showed signs of life in the second quarter, outscoring the Cavs 10-4 as Callaway took a 15-12 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Troup pulled within two points at 20-18 midway through the third quarter and it looked like the Lady Tigers were back in contention.

But Callaway went on a 9-0 run and led 29-18 before the third quarter ended with Callaway leading 29-20.

Callaway scored a last-second layup at the final buzzer to give it the largest lead of the game at 20.

In the fourth quarter, Troup only managed to tally three points.

Thornton, obviously disappointed with the outcome after having a two-week break in the schedule to work on her team’s game, had few answers as to why there were so many turnovers, missed layups and free throws.

“Maybe the layoff got us, but you expect some people to step up and it seemed like we had some girls regress instead of progress, so I was disappointed in the effort that we had,” Thornton said afterward. “No rebounding, couldn’t make free throws, couldn’t make layups – it was awful. We got open looks, we just missed them. When you miss those easy shots, it breaks your spirit.”

Meanwhile, the win was gratifying for the Lady Cavs, who swept the season series between the two clubs while improving to 3-2.

“I think the girls came out with a lot of effort tonight,” Martin added. “Of course, we missed a lot of layups, so we just got to slow down. Those layups will come, but most nights you’ve got to make layups. Those are easy buckets you work hard for, so we’ve got to do a better job.”

Callaway was led in scoring by Monica Jackson who had 12 points.

Troup’s Tamayah Potts led the Lady Tigers with 10 points.

Callaway will host Lanett today, and Troup will be at home against Northside.