By Dalton Middleton
Special to The Dispatch
Starkville High School junior Jariyah Covington did not have much time. However, it turned out that she had enough.
With 7.6 seconds remaining, Covington took the inbounds, ran down the court, and shot a 3-pointer while in triple coverage. As the buzzer sounded, the ball went through the net and the crowd went crazy. Covington gave her team a chance to fight on in overtime. She then went on to shoot the winning free-throw in overtime as Starkville took down Neshoba Central, 59-58 at the New Hope Trojan Classic.
Covington said after the game that her game winning shot gave her the best feeling in the world. She said she has never had a feeling like that go through her body.
“It felt like we won the state championship game,” Covington said. “I was so happy to be able to knock that big shot down for my team for us to go into overtime.”
The Lady Jackets (15-0) erased a nine-point deficit in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter to keep the dreams of their undefeated season alive.
Head coach Kristie Williams said that while it was not fun watching her team struggle throughout the entire game, it was a sigh of relief to see the big shot fall when they needed it after they missed so many big shots.
“I don’t think we came ready to play,” Williams said. “I don’t think we came prepared early on. It took us the course of the game to get our footing and unfortunately we don’t like to see that as coaches, but we didn’t start playing until the last four minutes of regulation.
The Lady Jackets struggled heavily on offense in the first half, and they scored just enough to keep up with the sharpshooting Lady Rockets. The Lady Rockets drained four 3-pointers en route to a 26-22 halftime lead. The Lady Jackets cut into the momentum with just a few seconds left in the half when Covington drained a 3-pointer from the corner and cut the lead to only four points.
The Lady Rockets continued their hot shooting in the third quarter and drained four more 3-pointers while extending their lead to 41-33. The Lady Jackets began moving the ball inside, controlling the post with centers Kirsten Thompson and Kelsey Jones out-reaching everyone on the court.
In the fourth quarter, both teams traded baskets and Neshoba Central had a nine-point lead with just under two minutes to go. After a basket under the goal and a 3-pointer, the Lady Jackets trailed by just four points with a minute and 15 seconds left. After intentionally fouling a few Lady Rockets and cutting the lead to three points, Covington took the ball and drained a buzzer beating 3-pointer to tie the game at 52-52 and send the game into overtime.
In overtime, the Lady Rockets took an early lead, but Starkville responded with a 3-pointer. After a few traded baskets, Covington stepped to the line and made the game-winning free-throw attempt. Neshoba Central was called for a traveling violation and Starkville had survived.
In the second game of the day, the Starkville boys moved to 12-2 with a 62-43 win over Kemper County. It was a back-and-forth event for most of the game, but the post play and play in the paint eventually dominated for the Yellow Jackets.
Head coach Greg Carter knew what kind of opponent Kemper County was and told his team exactly what style they needed to play to get the victory.
“That was the game plan to get inside,” Carter said. “They zoned to keep us from going inside, but we were still able to get it in there and finish it. Both of our centers finished well and that helped us get the lead up.”
The Yellow Jackets took control early of the game and led 16-10 at the end of the first quarter. Junior Blake Rogers powered the way for Starkville with two uncontested lay-ups and a 3-pointer which resulted in seven quick points.
The second quarter was dominated by defense, but Starkville took a 24-20 lead into halftime. In the third quarter, big man Darrious Agnew scored eight points in the post and Rogers scored eight on lay-ups and free throws.
Kemper County then began to play very physical and angry, even shoving a player on the ground after a lay-up attempt. but Starkville never fell for the tactics and kept their composure. After a technical foul on Kemper County’s coach, Starkville stood on the court holding the ball for the last three minutes of the quarter and settled things down on the court. The Yellow Jackets took a 45-34 lead into the fourth quarter.
Carter said the growth of the team this season is what kept their composure in that situation. They try not to let the opponent get into their heads in the game.
“We are maturing, growing up,” Carter said. “We are getting better with that. Earlier in the year, that would have been a huge problem for us. We are really maturing this season and we are growing up now.”
In the third game of the afternoon, West Point lost to Canton, 84-52. From the very start, Canton seemed to dominate on all phases of the game, draining four 3-pointers and making four shots in the paint while West Point found itself in a 23-11 deficit.
The second quarter was no different, and West Point trailed 45-27 at the break. Canton shot lights out from 3-point range and scored on nearly every possession. The lone highlight for West Point was Austin Crowley, who scored 12 points in the half, and eventually ended the night with 25 points.
West Point started the second half strong, but was no match for Canton’s athleticism and rebounding. Canton’s size was certainly the advantage in the ball game, with West Point being out-rebounded on both sides of the court. The big men for Canton and the sharpshooting from the guards led Canton to a very lopsided win, 84-52 win over West Point.
Coach Brad Cox said he knew going into the game that size would be an issue for the Green Wave, but they were going to try and rely on the shooting ability that they have to continue to succeed for them.
“Size really has not been a problem for us all year,” Coach Cox said. “We are who we are. We know we are guard heavy, and we shoot the ball well, but tonight we just didn’t shoot the ball well. Give credit to Canton though. They have a very wide zone and spread out well because they have the big boy in the middle, so it forced us to drive more tonight.”
After going 1-1 in the two-day tournament, the Green Wave (6-9) is heading into district play and looking forward to having a step-up on their opponents since they have been practicing and playing games over the Christmas break.
“What we like about this tournament is that right after we take a week off for Christmas, we come right back and practice a few times this week and then come and play two games,” Cox said. “Right when school starts back, district play begins. We don’t want to have two weeks off then jump into our district, so it was good to play a couple of different teams and see a few different things that we will probably see in district.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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