MACON — It was mid-January, and the Noxubee County girls basketball team needed a spark.
The Tigers, an inexperienced team with just one senior, were 2-11. They’d lost their first 10 games of the season, and only three of those contests were within 10 points. Noxubee County needed a turnaround — badly.
So Tigers coach Glenda Liddell-White turned to her secret weapon.
The coach had seen eighth grader Na’Kaiyla Mason stand out in her time on the B.F. Liddell Middle School team. As soon as the middle school season ended, Liddell-White brought Mason up to the varsity team, hoping the eighth grader’s talent could buoy the Tigers during a tough season.
Right away, the coach realized Mason would do a lot more than that.
In her first game, a Jan. 17 road contest at Houston, Mason came in and blew the competition away. She scored 29 points to lead the Tigers to a 50-34 win, and it wasn’t a fluke.
In less than two weeks, the eighth grader scored at least 20 points four more times as the Tigers turned a lost season into a saved one. Noxubee County finished its district schedule with a 3-1 record, earning the No. 1 seed in this week’s district tournament.
It’s clear that less than a month in, Liddell-White’s move has paid off just as she expected, as the talented Mason has assumed an integral leadership role with the Tigers already.
“It really sparked,” the coach said. “It really did. If she’s not going, they’re not going.”
‘What grade is she in?’
Zacaree Rupert and Jakeia Walker already knew.
After Mason transferred into the district from Kemper County when she was a seventh grader, the two freshmen on Noxubee County’s varsity team teamed up with her on AAU teams over the summer. They saw the eighth grader’s talent shine through right away.
“She’s really good,” Rupert said. “She’s very consistent with her work. She can do everything.”
Sophomore cheerleader TaQuira Peterson played with Mason in middle school, too, and Peterson quickly saw someone she knew she could follow.
“She always wanted to be a leader, and that’s what she did,” Peterson said.
Mason’s talent stood out right away, and when the time came for her promotion to varsity, Rupert and Walker were already waiting for her.
“It feels good for me to boost my game up and get stronger,” Mason said. “Playing varsity, I thought it might help.”
The eighth grader proved that for good in her first varsity game, pouring in 29 to help the Tigers beat the Hilltoppers. Peterson said she had never seen another high school player drive to the basket with the fearlessness of Mason in the contest.
“I’ve never seen a child like her before,” Peterson said. “She’s different.”
Six days later, Mason flashed her prowess at attacking and scoring against Okolona, scoring 29 points in the Tigers’ 80-43 home win and wowing the crowd.
“‘What grade is she in?'” Noxubee County fans in attendance asked Liddell-White. They were shocked by the answer.
As Mason’s performances kept coming — 23 against Aberdeen; a season-high 30 points against Potts Camp; 25 against Choctaw County — so did the wins, and Mason’s name swept around the high school, too. Peterson said classmates, teachers and even the principal were talking about the breakout star.
“All people at the high school talk about is ‘that eighth grader,'” Peterson said. “‘I want to see that eighth grader for myself.'”
‘The sky is the limit’
As good as Mason is, Liddell-White knows her team’s new star has a ways to go — and she’s got plenty of time to do it.
On Friday, Starkville High adjusted to Mason’s strengths, forcing her to go left and dribble with her weaker left hand.
“Once she gets stronger with both hands, that’s when she’s gonna be really hard to stop,” Starkville coach Kristie Williams said.
The Jackets’ defense Friday frustrated Mason, who missed more shots at the rim than usual and didn’t put up the big scoring numbers she usually enjoys. Starkville beat Noxubee County 60-34 — just the second loss for the Tigers since Mason joined the varsity squad.
“She wasn’t on her game tonight,” Liddell-White said. “She usually drives the team. … Every game, she comes in trying to make a play.”
To get to a point where she can become a true star, Liddell-White said, Mason needs to develop her outside shot so defenses can’t box her in and keep up her hard work — both in the classroom and on the court.
“She has the potential,” Liddell-White said. “She has the skill set. If she does that, the sky is the limit.”
Mason has aspirations of playing Division I basketball, and Williams, too, can already tell that her talent could make that possible.
“When she gets to about her junior or senior year, she’s gonna be one of the top players in the state if she continues to develop her game,” Williams said. “To be an eighth grader and come and do some of the things that she’s doing already, you can tell she’s got a knack for the game. She’s just gotta continue to work hard.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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