Columbus High School senior Briona Green has had two things on her mind during Christmas holidays — family and basketball.
“We have spent almost the entire break in the gym,” Green said. “It gets frustrating at times when you see your other friends doing some exciting things with their family and whatnot.
“Instead, you go to the gym every day. Quickly, during times like this, you find out how much you love the game.”
The Lady Falcons were loving the game Friday night.
A dominating first-quarter performance led Columbus to a 76-48 rout of New Hope on the final night of the New Hope hosted Trojan Classic.
Columbus won its third game in four days. The Lady Falcons will turn the calendar with a 10-3 overall record.
“Some girls were beginning to grumble,” Columbus coach Yvonne Hairston said. “It’s easy to go to practice when it’s part of school. We have work very hard during this break. When you play the way we did tonight, the girls understand why we are working this hard. We talked about it in the locker room tonight. Two more months of working really hard is what we need. We are close to the end, so it’s all about pushing hard to go that one last mile.”
Columbus covered that mile rather quickly Friday night.
During the first quarter, the Lady Falcons had a stretch of 10 straight possessions where they either blocked a shot, stole a pass or grabbed a defensive rebound after just one shot.
“Coach talked to us about starting strong,” Columbus senior Zaria Jenkins said. “We wanted to take their crowd out of the game. We approached this game like the first eight minutes would be the most important. We had a lot of confidence (from winning the Alcorn Central tournament Wednesday) and that carried over to this game.”
The Lady Falcons take pride in playing tough, physical defense. Hairston said her last message to her team was encouraging them to exert their will from the opening possession.
“This is a rivalry game and we knew there would be a good, loud crowd for both games,” Hairston said. “I thought it was important that we took the crowd out of the game. I told the girls to go all-out early. We wanted to make some stops, build a lead and really discourage (New Hope).”
Columbus sophomore Hannah White said her team has “made incredible strides” on the defensive end of the floor.
“We work on it every day,” White said. “It seems like every hour of every day. It’s defense, defense, defense. That is what really separates the great teams from the average teams. We have taken some of those defensive lessons to heart. I think you can see the results when we play.”
Columbus erased a one-point deficit with a 9-0 run. That run included two blocks by Jenkins, a steal by Tori Weir (which led to a fast-break layup) and another steal by Kaylyn Wilson (which also led to a basket on the other end).
While Hairston’s defensive game plan worked to perfection, her squad got the added bonus of some strong 3-point shooting. In the opening quarter, the Lady Falcons hit 4 of 5 shots from 3-point range.
Leading scorer Jenkins hit one, but so did Green and White had two.
“My eyes lit up when some of the other players starting knocking down shots like that,” Jenkins said. “When we have everybody going, it’s a good feeling. It’s take the pressure off. You can feed anybody and have confidence they are going to make the shot.”
Jenkins has been a consistent scoring presence during her career with the Lady Falcons. Hairston said having three or four players score consistently has made her club a much better team.
“It’s great when you have more than one hot hand,” Hairston said. “Hannah stepped up and hit some big threes and that gave us that big lead early. You play better defense when you have confidence on the offensive end.”
Columbus hit five first-half 3-pointers and led 36-20 at the intermission. White would again hit back-to-back 3-pointers late in the third quarter, running her team out to a 30-point lead.
New Hope coach Chad Brown said his team has competed hard for four quarters throughout the season. This night would be no different as the Lady Trojans (10-4) actually whittled a 31-point deficit back down to 17, thanks in large part to some strong 3-point shooting by junior Alaysha Jennings.
Columbus ended the contest on an 11-2 run, including the team’s ninth 3-pointer from Green.
For Columbus, Jenkins finished with 22 points, while White added 16 points and Green added 12 points. Both White and Green hit four 3-pointers.
“This team has a lot of confidence right now,” Green said. “I think we like playing together. We are working on getting better shots and playing better defense. If we continue to do that, we can continue to win.”
Jennings and senior Janae Topps each paced New Hope with 10 points.
Both teams will return to school next week and prepare for Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) region play.
“It will be good to get back to a routine,” Hairston said. “Fortunately, we won three games this week. Winning games is a good way to keep everybody happy.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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