STARKVILLE — Starkville High boys basketball coach Greg Carter never has worried about his team’s enthusiasm on game day.

The Yellow Jackets have been known for dominating starts to games this season.

Starkville’s latest took place Friday night, when it scored the first 12 points en route to a 64-32 victory against Northwest Rankin in a Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A, Region 3 game at the Bee Hive.

“We try to treat every opponent the same,” Starkville senior Richard Evans said. “That is what championship teams do. We want to come out strong and score a bunch of points earlier. It makes it easier if we could get the other team down. No matter who we play, we try to come out with the same focus and mind-set.”

Starkville built a 17-3 lead after one quarter and led 31-11 at halftime. With no player above 6-foot-1, Northwest Rankin had no answers inside. Since Starkville doesn’t have a player taller than 6-foot-3, it was a rare chance to dominate.

“You knew this was not going to be a dunk fest,” Carter said. “We wanted to take the ball inside. It was also important the kids forget the first game (an 80-38 win last month at Northwest Rankin) and come out mentally focused and ready to take care of their business again.”

Starkville improved to 13-2 and 2-1 in region play. In the four-team region, second-ranked Madison Central is undefeated. Starkville’s lone region loss was to Columbus. Starkville and Columbus will play their second meeting of the season Friday in Starkville.

Starkville will play Madison Central on Jan. 24 in Starkville and Feb. 4 in Madison.

“We know how important the region games are,” Evans said. “We are playing with good balance (and) with a lot of players getting in on the action. That is the key to be successful. We have some big games remaining, so we just have to keep doing what we have been doing.”

Evans led Starkville with 11 points, while Dontavius Self added nine to help Starkville overwhelm an injury-plagued opponent. Northwest Rankin (2-14, 0-3) was without two of its top four leading scorers.

“It may have been our best game from an offensive standpoint,” Carter said. “Richard did a great job of running things out front and making sure he got penetration in the lane. We did a lot of driving to the basket, which I like to see.

“It was our first game back (from Christmas break), so you always want to see how you respond. We did a lot of things well.”

In the opener, things didn’t go as well for the local team, as the Lady Jackets dropped a 76-67 decision to the Lady Cougars.

Also playing their first game back from the Christmas break, Starkville appeared a step slow throughout the game. The Lady Jackets trailed by 10 points in the first half and never recovered.

“We played well in spurts,” Starkville coach Kristie Williams said. “We didn’t play a full game. When you play in spurts, sometimes the chips don’t fall your way. That is what happened tonight. We played hard and competed, but we didn’t do enough things consistently throughout the game to have a chance.”

Starkville fell to 8-5 and 2-1. The Lady Jackets will hold the tiebreaker on the Lady Cougars in the final region standings, since Starkville took a 60-43 victory in the first matchup.

“We had a long layoff, and that really hurt us,” Williams said. “I don’t think we came out and expected them to be as tough as they were. We had talked about that as a team. Every team is getting better, so you have to come out ready to play. You have to match the other team’s intensity.”

Starkville only had one lead midway through the first quarter. After falling behind 22-12 early in the second quarter, the Lady Jackets closed within a 39-38 deficit at halftime. In the second quarter, Blair Schaefer had 12 of her game-high 24 points.

Starkville pulled within 41-40 early in the third quarter, only to fall behind 59-46 about four minutes later. Northwest Rankin (11-6, 2-1) hit three of its five 3-pointers in the quarter.

Starkville closed within 64-61 with four minutes remaining but turned the ball over on two of its next three possessions.

Imane Montgomery added 23 points for Starkville. Schaefer and Montgomery were held to six points in the final quarter. Kayla Minor added 10 points.

Madyson Wade had 25 points for Northwest Rankin, while Parris Ladner added 19 points.

Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott.

Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.