STARKVILLE — When the Starkville High School boys basketball team headed into the locker room at halftime of Friday’s home game against Germantown, head coach Greg Carter and assistant Ed Townsel took note of the effort each player had shown in the first two quarters.
Senior Leroy Hollingshed had brought the energy the Yellow Jackets wanted for his final home game. Sophomore Makhi Myles and Jacob Reese, the coaches decided, couldn’t quite say the same.
When the second half started, the Jackets left Hollingshed on the court.
That turned out to be a wise decision.
Late in the third quarter, the Mavericks cut what was once a double-digit Starkville lead to just seven points, Hollingshed delivered a big block and a crucial layup to put the Jackets back up nine points. Senior Eric Green followed with an and-one basket to push Starkville’s lead back to 12 points, and the Jackets held off the Mavs from there for a 67-52 home win to close out MHSAA Class 6A, Region 3 play.
“They got down seven, probably felt like they could make a run at it,” Townsel said. “That was a big stretch for us.”
It helped Starkville finish the regular season on a high note in a game in which not much went smoothly for the Jackets, according to Townsel.
“We didn’t play well,” he simply said. “I feel like we went through the motions tonight.”
Townsel promised those issues will be fixed by the Jackets’ Feb. 12 district championship game against either the same Mavericks team they faced Friday or South Panola. For Starkville, at least, an improved performance after halftime is a reason for optimism.
“We did try to guard more in the second half, and we got more stops and got in transition and made more shots,” Townsel said.
The Jackets went on an 11-4 run to head into halftime up 34-27 as senior Coltie Young hit a 3, stole the ball and dunked it hard to stretch out Starkville’s lead.
Young, who led the team with 23 points, showed off his talent both at the rim and outside the arc all night. In the first quarter, he needed only one hand to finish an alley-oop feed from senior Keyvon Pearson; in the fourth, he followed a layup with two straight 3-pointers to make the score 60-45 in the Jackets’ favor.
“We’d like to see it more — and probably will get to see it more in the playoffs,” Townsel said of Young’s array of skills.
By then, the Jackets will have had plenty of time to practice and prepare for a third game against either the Mavs or the Tigers. Either way, Townsel said, Starkville should be playing better by then.
“I think we’ll be fine,” he said.
Germantown girls 57, Starkville 46
After her third-quarter layup rolled off the rim, Starkville senior Amaya Ford kept running to the back wall of the gym and slapped her hand hard against the black padding affixed to it.
Her frustration was clear.
Even though Ford scored a game-high 25 points, she couldn’t will her team to a win in Friday’s home game against Germantown, the Jackets’ second loss to the Mavericks this season. Starkville lost 51-47 in overtime Jan. 8 in Madison and couldn’t make up for it in Friday’s regular-season finale.
“It’s going to be a battle every time we play,” Starkville coach Kristie Williams said. “It was a battle until the end like we expected.”
Williams said the game came down to the fundamentals, and the Jackets’ couldn’t match the Mavs’ execution. Starkville missed open shot after open shot and made just 15 of its 28 attempts from the foul line.
“This time of year, it’s about details: Free throws. Making wide-open layups,” Williams said. “You’ve got to have them if you want to continue on.”
Starkville didn’t, and that made the difference Friday. Germantown sophomore Madison Booker — the No. 4 recruit in the country in the Class of 2023 — said her team was able to go pound for pound with the Yellow Jackets, and that effort delivered the Mavs the win.
“Sometimes we play down a little bit, but tonight, we matched their aggressiveness and their tenacity,” Booker said. “We played hard. We played with them. We boxed out and got rebounds.”
Junior Essence Baker led Germantown with 17 points, and Booker added 14. While Ford ended up outscoring both Mavs, Booker said her team knew what its game plan would be defensively against the Louisiana-Monroe signee for the second meeting between the two teams.
“We’ve just got to stop Ford,” Booker said. “That’s the main key.”
For all intents and purposes Friday, the Mavericks did. They kept Ford — capable of scoring 40 points in a game — well below that mark and kept her teammates in check, too.
“It was very, very tough,” Booker said. “It’s just a good win.”
The victory gave Germantown the No. 1 seed in the district tournament, which it will host in Madison. Starkville will face South Panola on Jan. 8 for the right to play the Mavs in the tournament final.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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