Varnado impacts Mississippi State’s win

STARKVILLE — The best.

The mere inclusion of definites in a statement about any player’s abilities speaks volumes.

In his fourth year at Mississippi State, Jarvis Varnado has impacted college basketball games like nearly no other.

On Thursday night, the senior center added a new weapon to his already impressive array of talents.

MSU women travel to Arkansas

STARKVILLE — One time was enough for Sharon Fanning-Otis.

The veteran Mississippi State women’s basketball coach has been a part of enough blowouts to know not to make too much of one game.

But Fanning-Otis couldn’t help but be curious, so she decided to watch a replay of the Lady Bulldogs’ 75-48 loss to No. 4 Tennessee.

Grimes still out for MSU women’s basketball team

STARKVILLE — The news didn’t get any better for the Mississippi State women’s basketball team.

MSU coach Sharon Fanning-Otis said Tuesday that senior guard/forward Tysheka Grimes will be out a couple of more weeks as she tries to get over a foot injury.

Grimes has missed the Lady Bulldogs’ past three games. She is third on the team in scoring (11.5 points per game) and leads the team in rebounding (7-0).

Columbus, New Hope soccer coaches like what they see

Tuesday night was an appetizer, albeit one served on a cold, crunchy surface.

Despite the conditions, the New Hope and Columbus high school girls and boys soccer coaches were pleased with what they saw from their teams in one of the final non-district matches of the season.

Morgan Hardin scored two goals to lead the New Hope girls to a 4-2 victory, while the Columbus boys used two first-half goals to edge New Hope 2-1 in the nightcap.

White does it all for Heritage Academy

Tyler White is ready for anything.

It’s time for MSU women to take next step

The Mississippi State women’s basketball team still has an opportunity to win the Southeastern Conference regular-season title.

Anyone who saw No. 4 Tennessee’s 74-48 victory against MSU on Sunday would have to consider that statement ludicrous.

Loss to Tennessee ticks off MSU’s Fanning-Otis

STARKVILLE — Too long. Too deep. Too good.

Those factors were just some of the reasons why Sunday turned out to be an easier afternoon than expected for the No. 4 University of Tennessee women’s basketball team.

Angie Bjorklund and Glory Johnson tied for team-high scoring honors with 16 points, and Tennessee used a smothering half-court defense that set the tone in a 75-48 victory against Mississippi State before a crowd of 5,787 at Humphrey Coliseum.

Mississippi State women seek history-making win

History will be made today at Humphrey Coliseum.

For the first time in her coaching career, Pat Summitt will bring a senior-less University of Tennessee women’s basketball team to Starkville.

Mississippi State hopes it will be able to make a different kind of history when it takes on No. 4 Tennessee (13-1, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) at 1 p.m. today (SEC Network).

The Lady Bulldogs (11-4, 2-0) are the only team in the SEC that hasn’t defeated the Lady Volunteers. Eight-time NCAA champion Tennessee leads the all-time series 30-0.

Mississippi State women prove worst fears of Balcomb

STARKVILLE — Melanie Balcomb crowed about the Mississippi State women’s basketball team at Southeastern Conference Media Day.

The Vanderbilt coach knew MSU was tough after losing in Starkville last season, and she realized the Lady Bulldogs were going to be even tougher this season with four starters returning.

“It blew my mind,” Balcomb said when told media members picked MSU to finish fifth in the league. “I haven’t seen a coaches poll, but that is the first thing I looked at and said, ‘How can you pick Mississippi State fifth?’ To me that is totally out of line.”

MSU women will play host to No. 17 Vanderbilt

Mary Kathryn Govero didn’t set out Sunday to deliver the production of two players.

But with senior guard/forward Tysheka Grimes not able to play Sunday against Auburn, Govero knew she had to do something to help the Mississippi State women’s basketball team in its Southeastern Conference opener.

Mississippi State’s Grimes sidelined with foot injury

STARKVILLE — The Mississippi State women’s basketball team will have to find a way to get along without Tysheka Grimes for a little longer.

MSU coach Sharon Fanning-Otis said Tuesday that Grimes (foot injury) won’t play at home against No. 17 Vanderbilt at 8 p.m. Thursday (CSS) or against No. 4 Tennessee at 1 p.m. Sunday (SEC Network) in Starkville.

Grimes injured her foot Friday in practice. Fanning-Otis said Grimes will be re-evaluated Monday, and the hope is she will be back sooner than later.

Wrench leads Columbus past Noxubee County

The evening started and ended with exclamation marks for the Columbus High School boys basketball team.

The good news is senior center Bobby Wrench was in the middle of the action.

Wrench opened Tuesday night with a dunk and finished it with another flush en route to a 23-point effort in Columbus High’s 75-69 victory against Noxubee County.

Starkville’s Williams handles added responsibility

Everything has increased this season for Kala Williams.

It’s not that Williams didn’t play an important role for the Starkville High School girls basketball team last season, it’s just that things are magnified when you’re a senior.

But Williams is handling the added responsibility just fine.

The 5-foot-9 guard is averaging 19 points a game and is second on the team in rebounding (six per game). She is coming off a three-game stretch last week at the Hattiesburg Classic in which she averaged 20.7 points. She had 24 points in a victory against Brookhaven and 25 points in a victory against Oak Grove.

New Hope’s Hollivay feeling blessed after accident

The left side of the 1997 Toyota Camry looks like a squashed bug.

What is left of the windshield is crumpled on the dashboard. An airbag hangs lifelessly from the steering wheel in front of a broken seat on the driver’s side.

That broken seat might have saved Rachel Hollivay’s life.

On a rainy, Sunday night last November, Hollivay, 16, was driving home with her friend, Sabrina Harris, in the front passenger seat. She admits she might have been going a little too fast for the conditions, but her speed didn’t alarm her until she lost control of the car going around a curve.

Washington trying to get back into rotation for MSU women

STARKVILLE —Bethany Washington is used to the ritual.

The heating pads start from the end of the Mississippi State bench and work their way from trainer to manager to teammate to her knees.

The size of the pads vary from gym to gym, but Washington has pads she brings with her when she travels, just in case, so she can be ready.

Once the pads find their home, Washington can stretch out and receive the warmth she needs to keep her joints loose.

Time for Ole Miss women to take care of business

It’s time for the University of Mississippi women’s basketball to take care of business.

The message from coach Renee Ladner can’t be any clearer as her team prepares to tip off Southeastern Conference play at 2 p.m. today at No. 18 Vanderbilt.

The players have compiled a scouting report for today’s game, the coaches have discussed what the Rebels (9-4) will have to accomplish in the 16-game SEC schedule, and now they have to invest the time and effort it will take to help realize the goal of returning to the NCAA tournament.

SEC women begin 16-game league schedule

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The numbers will mean a little more to Southeastern Conference women’s basketball coaches this season.

Today, all 12 teams will play the first games in their 16-game SEC schedules. This is the first season the SEC, which started women’s basketball play in the 1982-83 season, will feature a 16-game schedule.

The decision evoked mixed feelings from SEC coaches last year when they were asked about it at the league’s annual media days gathering in Birmingham, Ala.

Lumanu keys MSU victory

STARKVILLE — The contact would have knocked a lesser guard to the ground.

But not much stops Armelie Lumanu when she is in her element.

MSU women continue preparations for SEC

Four days and counting.

That’s how long before the Mississippi State women’s basketball team has before it begins the next part of its testing.

At 7 tonight, MSU (8-4) will take on Alcorn State (0-8) at Humphrey Coliseum in its final tune-up before it kicks off its 16-game Southeastern Conference schedule at 2 p.m. Sunday at Auburn.

West Point’s Chambless honored for winning state title

WEST POINT — Dennis Allen had a dream to sell.

Problem was, not many people, even friends, were willing to come to West Point High School to help transform a football program that had fallen on hard times.

So Allen thought back to a golf outing in Ackerman when he met Chris Chambless. At the time, Chambless was in his first season at Caledonia High, and was known for his prowess as a defensive coach.