STARKVILLE — As Yogi Berra once said, “You can observe a lot by watching.”
But when it comes to scouting opponents off game tape alone, Germantown High School girls basketball coach Jamie Glasgow doesn’t always find that to be true.
“I like to see them in person,” Glasgow said. “You can watch them on film and you can get what they do and their tendencies, but it’s hard to tell size and speed a lot of times on film.”
It’s why Glasgow made the trip up Highway 25 on Monday: to watch Starkville and Southaven battle it out in person for the right to face the Mavericks in Friday’s second round.
The Yellow Jackets (20-5) handled the Chargers (9-17) by a 60-30 score, and Glasgow knows her team will be ready to take on a former district foe in Starkville at the end of the week.
“I know they’re going to be well prepared and well coached,” she said.
Glasgow and Starkville coach Kristie Williams have become acquainted from years spent on opposite sidelines.
Now, they’ll go against each other in a game that will send one team home for good.
“She’s a great coach. She’s an even better friend,” Williams said of Glasgow. “It’s one of those where now I’ve got to go face my good friend’s team, but I know that they’re going to be well prepared.”
Germantown boasts a strong duo in junior post player Alana Rouser and senior wing Madison Booker.
Booker, a McDonald’s All-American and a Texas signee, is one of the country’s most skilled players.
Starkville’s plan to stop her?
“Get her frustrated,” senior Je’Niecia Hill said. “Get her in some foul trouble and just do what we do best. The frustration will come with us being in her face and giving us the pressure that she needs. We play our own A1 defense, we’re fine.”
Starkville believes it has the offense to compete with the Mavericks (25-2) at 6 p.m. Friday.
Between Hill, who made four 3-pointers in the first-round win, and sophomore Zariyah Edwards, the Jackets’ offense impressed Glasgow as well.
“Watching film earlier, I knew 31 was one of their best players,” the Germantown coach said of Edwards, who scored 19 points. “When Southaven went man, they really looked to get it in to her a lot more. We’re going to have to do a good job of playing defense without fouling and making sure we block out.”
Glasgow scouted Starkville while multitasking Monday night.
Her husband Dave, a teacher and coach at Germantown, was in attendance for the Mavs’ softball season opener at Kosciusko. Batting first and second? The couple’s daughters Meg, a senior, and Julia, a sophomore.
Glasgow, who did her best to keep up via a YouTube video stream and live stats, said her kids understood she couldn’t make it.
“This is the time of year where I’ve got to watch these games while I can,” she said.
With Germantown receiving a first-round bye, it’s Glasgow’s only opportunity to watch a Mavericks playoff opponent in postseason action. She didn’t mind the two-hour trip to Starkville, although she didn’t make a stop at Panda Express off Highway 12 like normal.
“We don’t have one of those,” Glasgow said. “Usually, I’ll stop at that.”
Now in her 12th year at Germantown — she’s been there since the school opened in 2011 — Glasgow heads a team that hasn’t lost since Dec. 10 against Hoover (Alabama).
And now, of course, she’s gotten to see the Mavs’ next opponents in person.
Thanks to Friday’s loss to Tupelo in the Region 1-6A championship, which cost the Yellow Jackets a chance at a playoff bye, Starkville doesn’t have that luxury.
But the Jackets will scout Germantown as well as they can ahead of a major second-round showdown.
Even if it’s only on tape.
“We’re going to watch some film and regroup and get our minds ready to play,” Williams said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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