ITTA BENA — Fighting back tears after Friday’s Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 7A quarterfinal matchup, the feelings and emotions of a near 20-year career with Starkville hit head coach Kristie Williams all at once.
She had just stepped off the floor for the final time with the Yellow Jackets, who came up short in a 53-48 thriller against Tupelo, and begrudgingly, she had come to terms with the result.
“Last one,” Williams said.
Early on, things looked grim for Starkville (24-7), down as many as 14 points early in the second quarter after an abysmal 0-for-15 start from the field.
Entering the fourth, however, the Jackets saw themselves up 36-34, battling back from that first-quarter deficit to snatch momentum back.
“They realized at the beginning that the nerves got the best of them,” Williams said. “Once they were able to settle it down, that was motivation enough to say, ‘We still have a fighting chance.’ That was the turning point.”
Knocking down a few shots gave Starkville the confidence that it didn’t have through the first 10 minutes or so of play, but it wouldn’t be long before Tupelo (18-10) adjusted and continued the success it had in the first half.
It was the clutch play of junior Nadia Norfleet that made the biggest difference down the stretch, as she finished with 22 points for the Golden Wave.
“Nadia started slow out there,” Tupelo head coach Matt Justice said. “In the first half, she had two points. Coming out of there, I said, ‘We have the lead. I know you’re going to heat up and get it going.’ … She’s got that ‘it’ factor about her where when the game is on the line, we can put the ball in her hand and trust that she’s going to take care of it.”
More importantly, Tupelo found success on the fast break and on the offensive glass that Starkville just couldn’t find an answer for all afternoon.
“We just go hard,” Justice said. “We knew it was going to be a tall task to deal with (Zariyah Edwards), so they just took it upon themselves and our guards, I was proud of them for jumping in and getting some of those balls.”
Starkville had a balanced scoring attack in the loss, with three players finishing in double-figures in scoring. Edwards, Tootie Lockett and Ashlyn Johnson all had 11 points, with Johnson and Lockett knocking a combined four three-pointers.
That balanced scoring helped the Jackets climb out of a 14-2 first-quarter hole via a 34-20 run in the second and third quarters.
The Golden Wave made just enough plays when it counted late and were able to waste a good portion of the clock in the fourth quarter, making a Starkville comeback impossible.
“We didn’t rebound the ball well,” Lockett said. “We gave them too many times to score the ball, too many offensive rebounds at the end.”
So ended the Starkville careers for two Yellow Jackets: Williams and Lockett. The latter, named the inaugural MHSAA Class 7A Miss Basketball, made the most of her lone season with the Jackets before she continues her career at the next level.
“It’s been great,” Lockett said. “At the beginning, it was a little hard moving from the two to the one, but I held my head high and Coach Williams got me through it.”
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