CALEDONIA — Gary Griffin, in his third season as the head basketball coach at Caledonia High School, can’t remember a worse first half for the Confederates in his time at the school than the one they had Friday at home against Itawamba Agricultural.
Indians coach Darryl Wilson, meanwhile, can’t remember a better defensive performance in his entire coaching tenure.
The Caledonia boys (9-3) scored all of three points in the first quarter, then did it again in the second. It was a six-point first half for the ‘Feds, putting them squarely behind the eight-ball Friday in a 46-39 loss — and allowing both coaches to see something new.
“We just didn’t come out and do the things in the first half we needed to do,” said Griffin, whose team lost for the first time in its three district games.
For Itawamba, which won its second game of the entire season Friday, Caledonia’s surprising first-half cold spell was a testament to the Indians’ defense, which Wilson stressed going in.
“I’m very proud of the defensive effort they played with,” he said.
While the Indians watched the ‘Feds miss shot after shot, they took advantage offensively, pulling out to a lead as big as 14 points at 17-3 in the second quarter.
“We missed a lot of shots and in turn gave them confidence, because they got out ahead,” Griffin said.
Jarvis Leigh’s steal and layup late in the second brought the game to the half at 17-6, but the deficit proved too large, Caledonia senior Cooper McCleskey said.
“We got too far down in the first half and never could get the momentum back up,” he noted.
McCleskey tried to do his part, scoring 15 of his 18 points in the second half after knocking down a triple for the ‘Feds’ only points in the first quarter. Facing the Indians’ tough man-to-man defense, he couldn’t get much going.
“They did a good job of faceguarding Cooper, but other guys have gotta learn to step up,” Griffin said. “When he can’t get open shots, we need other guys to step up and assume that role until he can get freed up. That’s what happened in the first half. In the second half, once we started taking it to the basket a little bit, he saw a little daylight where he got a few more open shots.”
Only four players scored for Caledonia on Friday: McCleskey, Leigh (11 points), Tre Bohannon (five) and Vonta Martin (five). Martin fouled out early in the fourth quarter as Caledonia tried to mount a comeback, further vexing a team challenged for depth.
“The last two fouls he made, they were just reach-in fouls that were fouls that he shouldn’t have made,” Griffin said. “That was a big blow to us, him not being in the game, with him being a big key cog to what we do.”
Caledonia still nearly caught up. McCleskey hit a 3-pointer with 3 minutes, 46 seconds to go that cut the Indians’ lead to 39-37.
But Itawamba’s Arvesta Troupe buried a jumper a minute later, and with just over a minute to go, Deion Shells hit a pair of free throws to push the lead to six. Leigh answered with two foul shots of his own, but Caledonia never got closer.
“We knew they were gonna make a run,” Wilson said. “We knew they were gonna come out and try to get the ball to their main guy (McCleskey), and we had to weather the storm. It was a big win for us. Very proud of my guys. This is our second win, so hopefully we get a streak going ourselves. A big district win tonight, and we’ll take them any way we can get them right now.”
McCleskey admitted that he and his team likely overlooked the Indians, and Friday, the ‘Feds found out the hard way what could happen. But it’s still the team’s first defeat, and Griffin knows there are plenty of games to be played.
“To me, it just means that we’ve got one loss,” Griffin said. “Everybody’s still jockeying for position.”
Caledonia will travel to Vernon, Alabama, to face Lamar County in a girls/boys doubleheader Monday.
Itawamba Agricultural girls 45, Caledonia 36
Itawamba’s Zakiyah Adams paid the price for making the most memorable shot of Friday night’s game.
A little under three minutes into the fourth quarter, the Indians sophomore launched a contested 3-pointer from the left wing. Despite hard contact from a Caledonia defender and against the hopes of her coach, she sank the high-arcing shot, and the whistle blew to give Adams an attempt at a four-play as Adams fell to the ground.
“That was awesome,” Itawamba coach Anna Porter said. “I was sitting there saying, ‘That’s not the shot we need,’ and then she nails it. If you make it, you make it. I’m good with it.”
Adams got up, but she clanked her free throw off the rim. Then, as Caledonia dribbled away toward the opposite end of the floor, she fell to the floor again, unbeknownst to her coach and the game officials for several seconds.
“I didn’t know she went down,” Porter said. “I’m sitting over here watching, and they’re telling me. I didn’t realize she had gone down, and then I asked her when she was walking off, and she said it was her head.”
A trainer examined Adams and told Porter the sophomore had concussion-like symptoms and had to be held out for the rest of the game. Adams sat on the far end of the bench with her head down, watching the Indians finish off the Confederates, 45-36.
Her injury certainly put a damper on the Indians’ fifth victory of the season, but that signature play was an excellent example of the effort and the hustle that brought them the win.
“I had girls that were on the floor after every loose ball, and I think that’s what saved it, because it sure wasn’t our shooting,” Porter said.
Itawamba’s scrappiness coupled with Caledonia’s poor foul shooting — the ‘Feds missed 11 free throws Friday — added up to the Indians’ second district win and the ‘Feds’ third consecutive district loss.
“I just thought we made some mistakes that we shouldn’t have made,” Griffin said. “First of all, you miss that many free throws, you’re not gonna give yourself a chance to win in the beginning.”
But Caledonia still hung around despite several self-created obstacles, facing just a five-point halftime deficit and never allowing the game to get completely out of hand.
“To see where we were at the end of the game, considering the amount of free throws we missed, some turnovers that were unforced, with a young team … those things happen, but they’ve gotta just keep plugging at it,” Griffin said.
Tenizia Lathan had 12 points for Caledonia, and Shanti Kidd had nine.
For the Indians, Adams led the way with 14 points, and Genise Dabbs added 13.
“She’s consistently good,” Porter said of Dabbs. “We can always go to her. She’s one of our seniors, and I’ll hate to lose her. We trust it when the ball’s in her hands.”
While Itawamba’s overall record is “not the best” — Porter couldn’t say for sure where her team stands — Friday’s win builds momentum and morale early in the district part of the Indians’ schedule.
“We’re improving from last year; that’s what I’m looking at,” she said. “Right now, we’re just starting up the district play, so it definitely gives them confidence for the future games we’re gonna have. They’re excited. I’m excited. We’ll take what we can get.”
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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