STARKVILLE — Columbus High School girls basketball coach Yvonne Hairston knew her team was capable of winning its opening game in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A, Region 3 tournament.
Still, there is no way she could have envisioned victory happening the way it did.
Down three points in the final minute of the second half, Columbus went on a 27-0 run to defeat Northwest Rankin 69-39 in the tournament’s opening game Tuesday at the Starkville High.
“We played great,” Hairston said. “I am pretty giddy about how all this turned out. We give all the glory to God. This team has battled through adversity the entire season. All along the way we just kept getting a little better. In this game, we got a lot better.”
Columbus (16-10) will face Starkville (22-4) at 7 p.m. Friday for the region championship. Those teams secured a spot in the Class 6A North State playoffs by winning Tuesday night. However, neighborhood bragging rights and a first-round North State bye will be on the line in the region final.
The Lady Falcons didn’t grasp the significance of the 27-point scoring spree after the game. After all, the teams split during the regular season, with Columbus winning 47-45 in Brandon and Northwest Rankin winning 59-55 in Columbus.
“We knew we had to play better defense if we were going to win,” Columbus junior Rokila Wallace said. “We needed to find some momentum. We had to bring the game to them. This was the (region) tournament, and we had to go harder than we were going.”
A similar last-minute finish appeared on the horizon in the first half with Northwest Rankin leading 18-15 with 1 minute, 45 seconds left in the first half, but the Lady Falcons scored the final five points of the half and the first 22 of the second half.
“Take the ball to the goal,” Columbus senior Bethany Jones said. “We knew we could get to the basket and either score or get fouled. Coach hammered that home hard pretty hard to us at halftime. The third quarter was amazing, though. We picked up our defensive intensity. I think it surprised us a little bit how the game turned out.”
Hairston said Northwest Rankin won three weeks ago by hitting several outside shots. The game plan was simple. The Lady Falcons thought defending the perimeter would be key and the rest would fall in place.
“The main thing is we wanted to take away the outside shot because that is how they beat us last time,” Hairston said. “We told the girls your offense will come. We told them the rebounding will come. If we play with our normal amount of effort, we will be fine if we can take away the outside shot.”
Columbus did that and held Northwest Rankin (9-17) without a field goal in the third quarter. The Lady Cougars’ first second-half field goal came with 6:48 to go. Neither team hit a 3-pointer in the game.
“Intensity was the key,” Jones said. “For whatever reason, we didn’t have enough of it to start the game. We knew we had to stop the outside shot. When we are switching on defense and we are all together as one on defense, we can do a good job and really take the other team out of what they are trying to do.
“Good defense leads to good offense. We really opened things up when we found our intensity.”
Wallace had nine of her game-high 18 points in the 27-0 run. The Lady Falcons attacked at will and had numerous opportunities in the paint.
“They got dejected there real fast,” Wallace said. “We were going to the free-throw line and hitting free throws and getting some easy baskets. Once we started on that run, everybody got involved, and it really was a different attitude on the floor.”
While playing for the region championship was the team’s goal when the week started, the biggest accomplishment was earning a spot in the playoffs. The Lady Falcons have had to shake off injury and adversity to get there.
“We are playing our best basketball, and that is really what you want to be doing,” Hairston said. “Every team faces some adversity during the season. The question is how do you respond to that adversity. We kept working hard and believing. Our younger players have really stepped up their level of play.
“You saw that tonight. You saw communication and caring for one another on the floor. You saw a game plan and a good job of executing that plan. We plan to compete Friday night and we want to win the tournament. At the same time, there is a lot of excitement that you know you are playing next week. You came here to make sure you get to next week.”
Columbus placed five players in double figures. Zaria Jenkins had 12 points and was followed by Jones (11) and Kaylyn Wilson and Kayla Rogers (10).
“When everybody is scoring, we play with more confidence,” Wallace said. “That is what happens when everybody plays defense. When everybody plays defense, it seems like everybody scores. This will give us a lot of confidence going into Friday because we know we will have to play like this again.”
Maya Jones paced Northwest Rankin, which will face Madison Central at 4 p.m. Friday in the tournament’s third-place game, with 16 points.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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