STARKVILLE — The Starkville High School girls basketball team’s victory Saturday night was important mainly for the way it was achieved.

With leading scorer Blair Schaefer held without a field goal, Starkville had to look to other options in a 51-47 overtime victory against H.W. Byers in the Travis Outlaw Slam Dunk at The Hump tournament.

Things looked dire for the Lady Jackets when they saw a seven-point lead slip away in the final 1 minute, 45 seconds of regulation. Instead, Starkville posted a 4-0 shutout in the extra period to finish with a 1-1 ledger at Humphrey Coliseum.

“It was a really big win because other players had to step up,” Starkville senior Imane Montgomery said. “In the overtime, we had to keep fighting and not give up. It was time for somebody to step up.”

Schaefer was held to five points on 5 of 6 shooting at the line. After scoring 25 points in a 66-58 loss to New Hope on Friday afternoon, Schaefer only managed four shots from the field in Saturday’s game.

“Everybody thinks we rely on Blair to get the job done,” Starkville coach Kristie Williams said. “She does so many things for our team. It was important we showed tonight we have some other players who can get the job done. Blair made so many contributions to help other players. She saw that tonight as a leader her job was to help her teammates get the job done. We knew the double- and triple-teams were going to come throughout the season, so this team really grew up a lot tonight.”

Montgomery sensed early the Lady Lions’ defensive game plan might force other players to carry the scoring load.

“They were taking Blair totally out of the game,” Montgomery said. “I knew it was my job to step up and help lead the team. The main thing is we kept fighting and we never gave up, despite the adversity. We can really grow from this.”

Montgomery scored 14 of her game-high 17 points in the first half. Still, Byers (6-4) held the better of the competition and led 25-23 at halftime.

In a turn of events that made Williams happy, the Lady Jackets turned the momentum on the defensive end while Schaefer and Montgomery were silent.

Starkville (8-4) eased to a 37-34 lead after three quarters, thanks in part to freshman Kelsey Jones. Jones scored on back-to-back possessions to give the Lady Jackets their first lead since Byers erased an early 14-8 push with eight-straight points.

In the third quarter, Montgomery didn’t score and Schaefer was held to two free throws. “When your bigs can’t score, it means a lot that other players can step up,” Williams said. “It is not always about No. 10 (Schaefer) or No. 22 (Montgomery). If you have the big shot, you need to step up and take the shot, because in the end all shots will count the same.”

Strong play by junior Taylor Price allowed Starkville to stretch the lead in the fourth quarter. The Lady Jackets appeared in good shape when an offensive putback by Price stretched the lead to 47-40 with 1 minute, 45 seconds left.

Coming out of a timeout, Byers shifted to full-court pressure and Starkville turned the ball over on four consecutive possessions, including twice in the backcourt.

Byers hit back-to-back layups to pull even with 27 seconds left. Then holding for a potential final shot of regulation, Schaefer got the big defensive play when she drew a charge from Richenda Crutcher with six seconds left in regulation.

“When Kelsey came in, she did good,” Montgomery said. “She played hard and lit a fire. She got rebounds and put them up. She went hard. That gave us a lot of help when we needed it.”

In the overtime, the Lady Lions missed all seven shots from the field.

“Kelsey Jones came off the bench and played really great,” Williams said. “She is a freshman who has gotten better each game. Eryka Williams is a sophomore playing a guard position for us. This was a very big test for her, and she really stood up to the test and came through.”

Starkville took the lead on a free throw by Schaefer and sealed the deal on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Montgomery with less than two minutes left to play.

Price had 10 points and Jones had eight points. Laniqua Collins led Byers with 14 points.

Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott.

Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.