STARKVILLE — Starkville High School girls basketball coach Kristie Williams preaches to her team to battle through adversity.

The adversity began Friday night before her squad’s Mississippi High School Activities Association’s Class 6A, Region 3 game against archrival Columbus.

Williams learned early in the day she would be without starter Taylor Price, who didn’t dress due to the flu. Without Price, freshman Kelsey Jones earned her first career start.

During the game, leading scorer Blair Schaefer missed a stretch after hurting her hand in a violent collision. Two more Lady Jackets fouled out and another pair played through gimpy ankles.

In the end, the Lady Jackets lived up to their buzz word “survive” and earned a 59-54 win at the Bee Hive.

“When you play a team in January, you know they are going to be better,” Williams said. “For every team’s goal, the goal is to keep getting better. I knew Columbus would be better. We knew we had to find a way to be better to get the win.”

Starkville (10-5, 3-1 region) won the first series meeting 62-38. This game appeared headed in a similar direction when the Lady Jackets built a 47-30 lead late in the third quarter. On the possession prior to taking that lead, Schaefer was fouled hard trying to complete an uncontested layup attempt.

With Schaefer on the bench attempting to return feeling to her shooting hand, Columbus (15-7, 1-4) applied full-court pressure and scored eight points in 45 seconds to trim the deficit to 47-38 after three quarters.

“You saw what this team is made of tonight,” Columbus’ Porchia Brooks said. “Even though we didn’t win, we didn’t back down either. You are going to sometimes play well and lose a game. We are working hard to get ready for the district tournament. I am really proud of how we played and how we kept working together.”

Sophomore Rokila Wallace took over for Columbus, scoring 11 straight points for her team as part of a 15-1 run that cut the deficit to 48-45.

“You saw a lot about the growth and maturity of this team tonight,” Columbus coach Yvonne Hairston said. “We are a young team, but that doesn’t mean you give up on the season. We put forth a valiant effort to get back in the game. We had some turnovers late that hurt us. After the game, we were sad because we didn’t win the game. However, we know how far we have come.”

Down 54-51 and with Starkville now down three starters gone due to illness/foul disqualification, Columbus had a chance. However, the Lady Falcons turned the ball over on three of their next four possessions. Schaefer had two steals in the stretch.

“They really did things a lot differently against us defensively and it bothered us a little bit,” Schaefer said. “I think it says a lot about this team that we made enough plays to come out here and get a win. It was a rivalry game and we were down some people here or there, so other players had to step it up.”

Schaefer hit a pair of free throws and Imane Montgomery had a huge putback to seal the deal.

“We knew we would be tested because Columbus is good,” Williams said. “We know each other well, so the second time through region play, you have to step it up even more. In the first half, we played really well and I thought we were on cruise control.

“We turned it over too many times but we made several really big plays in the fourth quarter when the game was tight. We had some players on the bench who have been wanting playing time. They wanted the fire, so we told them this was their chance. You need to step up and help us win a big district game.”

After a nip-and-tuck start, Starkville ended the first quarter on a 9-3 run to take an 18-12 lead. Strong offensive play by Daija Williams allowed the Lady Jackets to quickly build a double-digit lead. In a strong turnaround from last week’s region loss to Northwest Rankin, Starkville played a near flawless half and carried a 34-20 lead into the locker room.

Columbus quickly answered.

“We are a different team now than we were at the first of the season,” Hairston said. “We have learned how to fight. This was a physical game and we really showed that belonged in the fight.”

Schaefer had 23 points, while Montgomery had 17. Kayla Minor came off the bench and provided a huge eight points for the Lady Jackets. Bethany Jones had 18 points for Columbus. Wallace added 12 and Brooks had 11.

Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott.

Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.