STARKVILLE — Anna Prestidge is the answer to the trivia question: why has the Starkville Academy girls basketball team been so successful?
At least that’s what Lady Volunteers coach Glenn Schmidt said after her team’s 40-25 victory over a powerful Pillow Academy squad.
“She brought the ball up against the press and made critical free throws,” Schmidt said. “She just our senior leader and our seniors are a great group that play hard all the time.”
The senior point guard had 11 points, seven rebounds and only committed two turnovers while the Lady Mustangs attempted to rattle her with a trap defense.
During a critical point in the fourth quarter with SA up 36-25, Prestidge missed a free throw but was able to immediately get under the basket to rebound and get two more attempts from the foul line that would be converted.
With Pillow Academy determined to hold SA leading scorer Anna Lea Little to just five points on six shots, Prestidge, who is not typically known as a scorer, having the ability to contribute offensively was a major key to the victory.
“She’s done a great job quarterbacking her team ever since he’s played for them two years ago,” Pillow Academy coach Durwin Carpenter said.
“She does it all and sometimes it’s not noticed in the box score.”
It was these hustle plays and suffocating defense by the second-year starter at point guard in the SA program that allowed the Lady Volunteers to defeat Pillow Academy for the first time in three attempts this season.
“That’s the best defensive effort we’ve had all season and you have to give my team credit for that,” Schmidt said.
Starkville Academy’s defense forced the Lady Mustangs to shoot 22 percent from the field (9-for-41) and forced 19 turnovers throughout the evening. Not a single Pillow Academy player finished with a double-figure scoring effort.
With the game tied at 18 in the third quarter, SA went on a quick 11-0 run to take control of the momentum for the rest of the contest.
“We knew they were a big, physical team and we knew we’d have to withstand that,” Schmidt said. “The rebounding margin is I think why we went to the free throw line so much because that’s where most of our points were scored.
Sophomore forward Sallie Kate Richardson lead Starkville Academy with a double-double effort at the low post as she finished with a game-high 16 points and 13 rebounds. Richardson was a major reason SA
outrebounded the Lady Mustangs 39-18 and 17-5 on the offensive glass.
“They took us out of everything we wanted to do offensively tonight
and just never got anything going,” Carpenter said.
In a playoff game atmosphere that feature a SA gymnasium filled to
over capacity, the Lady Volunteers walk out not only knowing they can
beat Pillow Academy but maintained their undefeated record on their
home floor.
“We hope we see them again somewhere,” Schmidt said. “There’s the
challenge. We don’t want to lose this year on this floor now.”
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