STARKVILLE — Twenty isn’t the number that concerns Starkville High School girls basketball coach Kristie Williams.
The Yellow Jackets hit 20 wins on the season with a 60-30 drubbing of Southaven in Monday’s MHSAA Class 6A first-round playoff game, but they’ve got bigger goals ahead.
“Four more,” Williams said, rubbing the championship ring hanging at the end of her silver necklace. “Four more to get one more of these.”
Starkville (20-5) moved within four wins of its first state championship since 2018 by doubling up the Chargers (9-17) in a scarcely competitive opening game.
The Yellow Jackets raced out to a 27-10 halftime lead and only added on from there, defending their home court and advancing to Friday’s second-round game at Germantown (25-2).
Sophomore Zariyah Edwards scored 19 points to lead Starkville, and senior Je’Niecia Hill hit four 3-pointers in the first half to pace the Jackets.
Without another home playoff game guaranteed, Hill said she wanted to do her best at the Nest.
“This is my last time playing on this court, so I’ll do anything to leave my mark and leave my legacy the best way I can,” she said.
Her four triples — the last of which opened the scoring in the second quarter — helped Starkville get out to a 17-6 advantage.
It was Edwards’ turn from there.
The dynamic young player scored the final eight points of the first half from either team, powering the Yellow Jackets to a double-digit halftime lead.
Edwards added another six points in the third quarter and three more in the fourth.
Hill said Starkville’s inside-out game with herself and Edwards is hard for opposing defenses to prepare for.
“She’s a monster,” Hill said of Edwards. “That’s what’s going to get us somewhere. … When you have a big guard who can go to work like that, and you’re going to leave me open, that’s a problem for some people.”
It was certainly a problem for a Southaven team unable to manufacture much on offense. The Chargers didn’t score their 20th point until a fourth-quarter free throw by senior guard Anaria Lee.
By that juncture, Starkville had 47 points and absolutely no chance at losing.
The Jackets delivered a much better performance than they did in Friday’s district championship game against Tupelo, a 74-45 loss for Starkville on its home floor.
“I think this was a much better effort than what we did on Friday night,” Williams said. “It’s hard to bounce back from a very tough loss like that and know that now, every game is a do-or-die situation. I thought we rose to the occasion. We played with a lot more force.”
That’ll have to be the case again when the Yellow Jackets visit Madison County on Friday for their second-round showdown with the No. 1-seeded Mavericks.
Starkville knows Germantown well from the two schools’ years in the same region, but it won’t be easy to stop all-American Madison Booker and the Mavs.
Still, the Jackets think they can get the job done.
“They’re a tough team, but we’re an even tougher team,” Hill said. “If we play together, there’s no doubt, I don’t think, that we’ll be able to get the win. But we have to play how we played tonight, which is Starkville basketball.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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