BRANDON –– The New Hope High School boys basketball team had five players score in double figures Tuesday in a 68-58 victory against Northwest Rankin in the Northwest Rankin Classic.
Johnathan Brandon, Jamal Richardson, and Hank Washington scored 12 points each, and Davis Lee and Matthew Thrash each had 11 for New Hope (13-1).
New Hope led 40-19 at halftime, and coach Drew McBrayer played his younger players in the second half, which allowed Northwest Rankin to cut into its deficit.
New Hope plays its final game in the classic at 5:30 p.m. today against Clinton.
n Northwest Rankin 64, New Hope 55 (G): At Brandon, the Lady Trojans fell behind in the first quarter and couldn’t catch up against the host team in the Northwest Rankin Classic.
New Hope (8-5) fell behind 18-9 after the first quarter and trailed 36-26 at halftime and 46-38 at the end of the third period.
The high scorers for the Lady Trojans were Kelli Petty with 22 points, Rachel Hollivay with 14 and Kia Edmonds 10.
New Hope plays Brandon in the tournament at 1 p.m. today.
n Starkville 73, Hattiesburg 63 (B): At Hattiesburg, the Yellow Jackets trailed 31-27 at halftime of Tuesday night’s game at the Hattiesburg Holiday Classic.
But Starkville responded in the third quarter by outscoring their host 24-14 to wrestle the lead away, went out front 51-45 after the third quarter, and improved to 12-0.
Starkville assistant coach Ryan Rodriguez said it was just a matter of settling the players down at halftime and getting everyone on the same page.
“We came out more focused in the second half,” Rodriguez said.
Southern Mississippi signee Rashad Perkins showed the Hattiesburg fans what he plans to bring to their city and nearly achieved a triple-double. He had 21 points, 13 rebounds, seven blocked shots, and four assists for the Yellow Jackets.
Sophomore forward Gavin Ware also had 19 points, 12 rebounds, and three blocked shots.
Edward Townsel added 17 points, seven rebounds, eight assists, and five steals. Jacolby Mobley had eight points and six assists.
The Yellow Jackets (12-0) play Oak Grove at 1 p.m. today.
n Starkville 51, Oak Grove 38 (G): Kala Williams scored 25 points and the Lady Yellow Jackets used a strong defensive effort to win their second game in two days at the Hattiesburg Holiday Classic.
After falling behind 14-7 at the end of the first quarter, Starkville (11-1) outscored Oak Grove 18-12 to close the gap to 26-25 at halftime.
The Lady Yellow Jackets kept the momentum going into the second half, scoring 10 more points and holding Oak Grove to four to take a 35-30 lead after the third quarter.
“We did come out a little sluggish, but we did settle down and got control in the second quarter,” Starkville coach Kristie Williams said. “It was a defensive battle on both ends, but we found some success in our 2-3 zone.”
Courtney Moore followed Williams in the scoring column for the Lady Yellow Jackets with 11 points.
Starkville wraps up its three-day tournament stay in Hattiesburg with a matchup against Natchez at 11:30 this morning.
n Starkville Academy 41, Lewisburg (Tenn.) (G): At Senatobia, the Lady Volunteers bounced back from an opening-round loss at the Magnolia Heights Tournament in a big way Tuesday.
Starkville Academy (12-8) only allowed five points to Lewisburg in the second half.
After leading 20-13 at halftime, the Lady Volunteers got a 3-point basket from Maggie Gladney and bucket by Kylie Lockhart to get the second half started.
Tiffany Huddleston led Starkville Academy with nine points, while Mary Austin Barber followed with seven points, Gladney, Lockhart, and Anna Prestridge added six points and Julianne Jackson had four points.
Prestridge had six rebounds to pace the Lady Volunteers. She also had four assists and three steals. Huddleston had five rebounds, Gladney had four rebounds, and Jackson had three rebounds and four steals.
Starkville Academy coach Glenn Schmidt said the opportunity to play all of her players was a plus.
“We’ve challenged all of our players to work hard in a game,” Schmidt said. “We really need to be able to build our bench.”
Despite the lopsided score, the Lady Volunteers were outrebounded (34-31) for the second game in a row, which concerns Schmidt.
She looks for a better rebounding effort at 1 p.m. today against DeSoto Central.
n Marshall 67, Starkville Academy 26 (B): The Volunteers fell behind 15-4 after the first quarter and couldn’t recover.
An encouraging sign for Starkville Academy (1-16) was the play of sophomore Michael Houston, who returned from a broken hand to score eight points.
J.R. Gerhart scored six points for the Volunteers, Zach Thomas had five points, and Zach Gerhart contributed four points off the bench.
Jordan Wyke led Marshall with 16 points.
Starkville Academy wraps up its play at the Magnolia Heights Tournament against North Delta Academy at 11:45 this morning.
n Indianola Academy 52, Immanuel Christian 48 (B): At Marks, the Rams held off Indianola Academy in the Delta Academy Tournament.
Immanuel (8-7) was outscored 23-10 in the fourth quarter after leading 11-2 at the end of the first period, 26-15 at halftime, and 38-29 at the close of the third stanza.
Justin James had 16 points, nine rebounds, and eight blocked shots to lead the Rams, while Ross Moore had 16 points and five rebounds and Wade Lee had eight points.
Immanuel plays its final game in the tournament at 12:40 p.m. today against Kirk Academy of Grenada.
n Wayne County 63, Noxubee County 60 (G): At Jackson, the Tigerettes came up short against Wayne County to be eliminated from the Jackson Public Schools Christmas Classic.
The game was close throughout as Noxubee County (9-4) trailed just 27-26 at halftime.
The leading scorers for Noxubee County were Jeraldine Campbell with 32 points and Sierra Chandler with 15.
n Meek 77, Hamilton 35 (B): At Millport, Ala., the Lions (2-8) couldn’t contain Sean Hiller in losing to Meek in the championship game of the South Lamar Invitational.
Hiller scored 42 points on his way to earning tournament MVP honors.
n Berry (Ala.) 60, Hamilton 27 (G): At Millport, Ala., the Lady Lions lost the championship game of the South Lamar Invitational.
Hamilton (2-9) trailed 26-13 at halftime and fell out of contention by being outscored 34-14 in the second half.
Katie Beth Dahlem had eight points to lead Hamilton, while Aaliyah Verner and Christy Willis each had four points.
n Berry 75, South Lamar 63 (B): At Millport, Ala., the Stallions dropped the consolation of their South Lamar Invitational.
South Lamar (2-9) was outscored 36-28 in the second half after trailing 39-35 at halftime.
DeShawn Davis led South Lamar with 24 points. Ryan Jaynes had 11 and Jordan Smith added 10.
Chris Johnson scored 27 points and David Morrison scored 26 for Berry.
n Meek 69, South Lamar 36 (G): At Millport, Ala., the Lady Stallions lost in the consolation game of the South Lamar Invitational.
Angel Cunningham paced South Lamar with 17 points. Nasheema Cunningham had 11.
The Lady Stallions (2-9) fell behind 40-21 at halftime and were outscored 29-15 in the second half.
n Pickens County 51, Gordo 40 (B): At Fayette, Ala., the Tornadoes overcame Deion Curry being ejected and LaJaun Doss being in foul trouble to beat Gordo in the Fayette Lions Club Tournament at Bevill State Community College.
Curry was ejected in the first half when he was whistled for two technicals for touching the ball in the net.
Curry and Doss, the team’s leading scorers, scored two points each.
Markeithon Hall led Pickens County with 14 points. Dominique Jones added 11.
Pickens County (8-1) plays Fayette County at 7:30 p.m. today in the tournament.
n Sumiton Christian 48, Pickens County 37 (G): At Fayette, Ala., the Lady Tornadoes were mired in foul trouble in losing to Sumiton Christian in the Fayette Lions Club Tournament.
Pickens County (4-3) was whistled for 27 fouls and had two starters foul out.
Sumiton Christian
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