For New Hope High School girls basketball coach Laura Lee Holman, the switch came on at practice about two weeks ago.

“The girls are buying in,” Holman said. “They know what we can do. A couple of weeks ago, a couple of older players were showing the younger players what to do. There was a buy-in. You could see they were beginning to believe. Once you get the belief, that is a huge step forward.”

For the Lady Trojans, the next step is learning how to win.

After advancing to the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 5A state tournament semifinals a year ago, New Hope has learned how to crawl and is working on walking.

Another step forward took place Saturday night, as New Hope trailed Starkville by one possession in the final two minutes of an eventual 51-42 loss in the New Hope New Year’s Holiday Tournament.

“I really thought we were getting the big reward tonight,” Holman said. “Starkville is outstanding. When the game was on the line, their star players really stepped up and made some great plays. We were in that position a year ago. Credit to their kids for making the plays to win the game.

“Credit also to our kids for really playing hard, competing, and battling out there. They are now carrying over to the court what we do every day in practice. That is very exciting.”

In the boys’ finale, Columbus held on for a 70-66 victory against New Hope. Robert Woodard led the Falcons (10-3) with 25 points, while Terryonte Thomas led the Trojans (11-5) with 22. More on this game will be in Monday’s edition of The Dispatch.

The Starkville girls improved to 11-3 with another hard-fought win against a neighboring rival. Coach Kristie Williams fully expected a fight despite the recent struggles for New Hope this season. She felt like the game was a good warmup for the region opener Tuesday night at Grenada.

“I am thankful New Hope gave us such a great game,” Williams said. “New Hope has a young team. We have all been in that position. They competed every possession out there tonight. Fortunately, we had a stretch there where we played really well on both ends of the floor.”

Starkville built a 19-11 lead after Jariyah Covington sank a 3-pointer on the opening possession of the second quarter. New Hope (2-14) bowed its neck and battled back.

The Lady Trojans sliced the lead to one with sophomore Lanoria Abrams leading the way. Abrams had 10 points, nine rebounds, and seven steals.

Senior LaClaudia Keaton led New Hope with a career-high 13 points.

“(Starkville center) Kelsey Jones took over the game in the third quarter,” Holman said. “You expected that from her. We held our own defending here there for a large stretch of the game. Once we ran into some foul trouble, we had to substitute more and Kelsey really took over.”

New Hope closed the gap to 32-31 with four minutes left in the third quarter. The Lady Trojans then came up empty on three straight possessions with a chance to take a lead. New Hope committed seven turnovers in the final 4 minutes, 23 seconds of the quarter and Starkville eased out to a 40-33 advantage.

“In the second half, we had to want it more,” Starkville junior forward Tanita Thompson said. “We did a better job of getting the ball to Kelsey. Once they double teamed her, she found some open people. The main thing is we rebounded better and we blocked out better.

“This was a big win for us because we needed the confidence going into region play.”

Jones also had a decisive stretch in the fourth quarter when she scored on back-to-back possessions and followed that with a blocked shot. Still, New Hope only trailed 44-40 when Jones worked past a double-team to find Covington, who drilled a back-breaking shot from 18 feet out for the Lady Jackets.

Thompson also had a critical putback of a missed free throw to extend the lead back out to six points a possession later.

“It just felt good to jump again,” said Thompson, who is healthy after anterior cruciate ligament surgery in March. “Coach had been stressing rebounding. That may have been the biggest play of the game.”

Williams knows offensive balance will be the key as more teams focus in on stopping Jones underneath the basket.

“To be successful, we had to work the ball inside-out,” Williams said. “We really stressed that in the two games (at the Travis Outlaw Slam Dunk at the Hump tournament). Kelsey really made some smart decisions tonight. If the shot was there she took it. If not, she found other players.

“We have been working real hard to get the guards more involved in the offense. We have to be able to do that to have a deep run this season.”

Jones had 14 points for Starkville, while Taylor Price and Thompson each added eight points.

n New Hope splits pair: In Friday’s opening round of the New Hope tournament, the New Hope boys beat South Panola 77-53, while the New Hope girls lost to South Panola 60-49.

Jaylon Bardley led the New Hope boys (11-4) with 16 points, while Demyis Mayberry had 15 points. Shemar Johnson added 14 points, while Terryonte Thomas had 11 points and 17 rebounds.

Kennedi Stephens had 27 points and 12 rebounds to lead the New Hope girls. LaClaudia Keaton added 11 points.

n Columbus splits pair: In a Class 6A, Region 3 doubleheader Friday night, Columbus won twice at Northwest Rankin.

The Columbus girls improved to 2-1 in region play with a 47-45 victory. Zaria Jenkins led the offense with 19 points, while Rokila Wallace added 12 points.

The Columbus boys parlayed an outstanding defensive effort into a 54-42 victory.

Columbus allowed only 12 first-half points and led 28-12 at the intermission.

For Columbus (9-3, 1-2 region), Demetrius Clopton had 13 points, while Chris Deloach added nine points and five assists.

The Columbus girls returned to action Saturday where they fell to 6-5 overall, thanks to a 46-36 loss to Shannon in the New Albany Classic.

n Aberdeen wins at Rumble: The Aberdeen boys basketball team made it four straight wins with a 48-44 victory over Midfield (Alabama), at the Itawamba Community College-hosted Rumble on the River.

Queshod Young and Marcus Carouthers each had 13 points to lead 10-2 Aberdeen.

n In other action, the Starkville Academy girls basketball team lost two games at the Jackson Prep tournament.

On Saturday, Kacey Faver had eight points and seven rebounds in a 48-30 loss to Adams County Christian.

Bonner Hughes had seven points, three rebounds, and three steals, while Sydney Passons had five points, four steals, and three assists and Sarah Morgan Pellum had four points and five rebounds.

On Friday, Hughes had seven points and two steals in a 54-24 loss to Bowling Green (La.).

Faver had four points and seven rebounds, while Hannah Cuevas had four points and five rebounds.

Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott

Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.