Kill it 'til it's dead

Had Rodney King been in attendance Wednesday at Strong's game against Hampton, he probably would've said it was the worst butt whipping he'd ever seen. The Lady Bulldogs' 78-21 win over Hampton in the 2A 7-East District Tournament was brutal.
The beating was quite bad and Hampton helped choreograph the whole thing.
I was actually proud of Strong coach Gerrald Koonce, whose team shot the ball much better than I'd seen this season. In the blog below, I said the Lady Bulldogs' range was point blank. After watching them hit 7-of-10 from 3-point range, I guess I underestimated their shooting by about 20 feet.
Strong did what Strong does in elimination games, it survived. With their backs to the wall, these Lady Bulldogs are at their best.
Strong led 13-2, 16-4 and 33-5 in the first quarter. It was 42-8 midway in the second and 55-14 at the half.
When the Lady Bulldogs went up 65-18 with 4:06 left in the third, Koonce removed all of his starters. That's when Hampton turned up its defensive heat and physical play against Strong's subs.
I loved it when Koonce put his starters back into the game two minutes later. Strong led 69-20 after three quarters and the bench finished up the final period.
After the game, a fan questioned Koonce's motives for putting his starters back in the game with a 40-point lead. The fan said it was like beating a dead horse.
In my opinion, when that horse starts fullcourt pressing, he ain't dead.