JACKSON — Plan B turned out to be quite an effective alternative Wednesday night for the Horn Lake High School girls basketball team.
Forced to change schemes after a slow start, Horn Lake turned up the intensity on defense thanks to a half-court trap and forced 30 turnovers en route to a 60-39 victory against Starkville in the semifinals of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A State tournament at Mississippi Coliseum.
“It was my Plan B, so I was praying that it worked tonight,” Horn Lake coach Janna Thompson said. “We have some considerable athleticism and between that and wanting to punch that ticket for Saturday, those two combined and the girls did an excellent job.”
Horn Lake (28-4) will play Olive Branch, which defeated Harrison Central 81-72, at 6 p.m. Saturday. Horn Lake beat Olive Branch 74-39 last year in the Class 6A championship.
Trailing 9-5, Thompson inserted 5-foot-6 senior guard Tranika Echols into the game for 6-3 senior center Alexyse Thomas. The move resulted in only three turnovers in the final 4 minutes, 6 seconds of the first quarter, but it set the tone for plenty of trapping by Rodneyshia Martin, Alondrea Rush, and Echols as soon as Starkville crossed midcourt.
Rush had only seven points, but she led the way with four steals on a night Horn Lake was credited with 12 and likely had more.
Martin had a game-high 22 points and three steals. Thomas (10 points) was the only other Horn Lake player in double figures. Echols did her part with four points and a team-high six assists.
“Tranika is sixth-man of the year,” Thompson said. “I tell a lot of people she could start for a lot of schools. She is just that type of kid, real hard-nosed and takes pride in her defense and gives us a spark. She is the type of player I have on the bench that if it is not working out, I feel confident I have something else going in there that is going to make something happen.”
Starkville coach Kristie Williams said Horn Lake’s pressure was just what she expected. Entering the game, she felt Starkville would have to rebound, to minimize turnovers, and to make free throws. Unfortunately, she said the Lady Yellow Jackets didn’t take care of the ball and didn’t shot well from the free-throw line (10 of 24, 41.7 percent).
“When you’re playing a great team like Horn Lake, you can’t play a ‘B’ or a ‘C’ game. You have to at least an A- to have a chance,” said Williams, whose team ends its season at 25-5. “That is what happened to us tonight. We didn’t bring our ‘A’ game. Hats off to Horn Lake. They are a great team with a great coach.”
Trailing 25-21 at halftime, Starkville turned the ball over on its first six possessions of the first half (five turnovers, one steal). Starkville committed three more turnovers in the final 4:13 of the quarter as Horn Lake pushed its lead to as many as 42-26 with 36.2 seconds left in the frame.
Horn Lake didn’t let up in the fourth quarter, as it forced four more turnovers and had another steal in the first 3:55 to build a 20-point cushion.
“We unraveled,” Williams said. “You can use all of those terms. … I told them in the pre-game talk that they were going to make mistakes, but that it was how they responded to the mistakes that would determine how well we did in the game. We were not ready mentally. Physically, we were ready and we were banging, but once you lose it mentally in basketball, it doesn’t matter what your physical side is doing because your mind is gone throughout the rest of the game. That is what happened. We got mentally lost at the end of the second quarter and leading off the rest of the game.”
The teams combined to commit 27 turnovers in the first half. Starkville, which had 15 of the giveaways, had trouble dealing with Horn Lake’s half-court trap. The Lady Eagles used a diamond scheme with Martin, Rush, and Echols to pressure the ball. Starkville had problems even when it moved past the initial line because it often lobbed passes to win players, which Horn Lake intercepted.
Starkville junior forward Tanita Thompson (eight points, six rebounds) said overconfidence played part in Starkville’s performance. She said the team wouldn’t get “cocky” at all next season and would stay focused in an effort to get back to Jackson and take the next step to play for a state title.
Thompson feels Starkville can learn a valuable lesson from the loss as it tries to mature for next season.
“People know how to play defense,” Thompson said. “When you want to play defense, nobody can stop you. That is how Horn Lake was. Without any pressure they were going to put pressure on us.”
The Lady Eagles were equally aggressive in pursuing the ball after the Lady Yellow Jackets used several passes to move into the paint. The quick hands of Martin and Rush helped them pester Starkville’s front-court players when they turned to attack the rim.
It also didn’t help that sophomore center Kelsey Jones, Starkville’s leading scorer, played only six minutes after picking up her second foul. Jones also was in foul trouble in Starkville’s 59-52 victory against Hattiesburg on Saturday. Starkville overcame 26 turnovers thanks to a game-ending 19-2 run to reach the semifinals. Jones led Starkville with 10 points and 11 rebounds against Horn Lake. Daija Williams also had eight points.
On Wednesday, though, Horn Lake’s Plan B proved to be too much to counter.
“I knew that they were considerably young,” Thompson said. “We really try to make people earn every basket usually in a man-type setting, but we know (the half-court trap) is something we can go to. Thirty turnovers is awesome on any given night.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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