By DAVID MILLER
Special to The Dispatch
When Hannah White released the go-ahead 3-pointer Friday in the waning seconds of Columbus High’s region opener against Hernando, senior and leading scorer Zaria Jenkins knew it would fall.
She also thought it’d be enough to help the Lady Falcons, who’d been idle for 10 days, escape the nip-tuck match with a win.
“I knew it was going in,” Jenkins said. “[White] is a clutch shooter. But when the other girl made it … oh my God.”
Hernando would knock down a 3-pointer at the end of regulation, sending the game to the first of two overtime periods. From there, Jenkins would score 11 of her game-high 23 points, including a layup with five seconds left to force the second OT, and an and-1 to help Columbus to a 68-55 win.
“I guess we wanted it more in the second overtime,” Jenkins said. “This was our first district game, and we have to put a mark on our name, so we had to go out, play hard and play hard on defense.”
Columbus led by a point at halftime and could only stretch the lead to five in regulation. The Lady Falcons (12-3, 1-0 MHSAA Class 6A, Region 2) were rusty, though, missing strings of point-blank shots after the long layoff. But persistence in crashing the boards led to many second-chance shots in the second half, especially the second overtime period.
“The first half, we were in a 2-3 zone, and then we came out in the third in the 2-3 and then decided to man up,” Hairston said. “Most of the time, when you man-up like that, you can be a little more aggressive on the boards. We had the foul count, too, so we told them to be aggressive and keep going to the basket and hopefully the referees will blow it.”
The Lady Falcons went 28 of 43 at the line and were 8 of 13 in the second overtime. Hernando (12-6, 1-1) went 7 of 12 from the line.
“We made them when we needed them,” Hairston said.
White finished with 19, including a trio of 3-pointers. She hit one of her 3-pointers in the second overtime period. Her 3-pointer that the Lady Falcons thought was the game-winner followed a pair of free throws she’d missed on the previous possession.
Kaylyn Wilson then stole the inbounds pass, was fouled and made two from the stripe with a hair over 5 seconds left. Columbus intercepted a pass at the other end but was called for traveling, leaving 1.5 seconds on the clock before Hernando’s Allyson Branyan knocked down a 3 from the corner to send it to overtime.
“We switched everything to get up on the ball and put a hand in the face of the shooter,” Jenkins said. “We put a hand in her face – she just made it.”
The Lady Falcons, who field five seniors, strangely enough, have experience in double-overtime games. They beat former Dandy Dozen selection Zyaire Ewing and Natchez last season at the Joe Horne Christmas Classic.
“This game was more intense,” Jenkins said. “It was crazy. It was fun, though.”
Hairston said Friday’s game was a good “teaching game.”
“Each level of the game, we had to do something else different,” Hairston said. “On down the road, hopefully, when someone throws something at us, we’ll be ready. Now we know we can win in overtime, we know that we can battle back and do all these things now. It’s three games in one. That’s what it’s all about.”
Columbus boys 66, Hernando 45: Gary Griffin is ready to benefits of facing the state’s toughest schedule.
Friday was a nice start.
The Columbus coach didn’t have to sweat much as his team easily dispatched Hernando in its region opener.
Robert Woodard, II led the Falcons with 24 points. Jonte Williams had 13.
Columbus opened the game on a 17-1 run and led 29-17 at the half.
“We opened up a pretty good gap in the first, but we got out of character and did some things we shouldn’t have been,” Griffin said. “We had to regain our focus and got back to doing the things that makes us successful. At halftime I talked to them about making a concerted effort to do what we do and stay organized.
“We came out in the third, tightened the D up, started running the floor and playing our game.”
Columbus improved to 8-7 overall and 1-0 in region play.
Hernando fell to 7-10 and 0-2 in region play.
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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