West Lowndes High School girls’ basketball coach Danny Crawford feels like his team should be judged on its last month of play.
“When you are a first-year coach at a new school, it’s a huge challenge,” Crawford said. “We were teaching a new offense and then teaching a new defense. After you get the basics, you put in a full-court press offense, a full-court press defense. The girls have been great. They have been eager to learn every day in the gym.
“It has taken a long time to get to this point. We have played 31 games. Around the 17th or 18th game of the season is when it really started clicking. We are pretty much what we are going to be for this season now. I am really proud of that. I know how far we have come.”
West Lowndes opened the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1A playoffs with a hard-fought 67-56 win over Ethel Monday night. West Lowndes scored the first 14 points of the first half and the first 10 points of the second half and were never in any real danger of losing. When the playoffs resume Friday, West Lowndes (16-15) will play at Lumberton (11-13) with a spot in Jackson on the line. Overall, four more wins would be necessary to win a state title.
“Coach told us to trust him,” West Lowndes senior Alexis Neely said. “He told us we could (go to Jackson) if we wanted it badly enough. We are one win away now, so we aren’t going to stop trusting now. Everybody on the team is excited. We are happy that we are still playing.”
After the two Oktibbeha County schools were consolidated with Starkville High School last summer, that meant Crawford was a free-agent. The closing of the schools was a three-year process and Crawford stuck to his word, coaching at West Oktibbeha County High School until the school was closed for good. The next career opportunity came from West Lowndes. Crawford was eager to accept.
“The kids out here have an incredible work ethic,” Crawford said. “They have had success in each of the major sports. I found a place that was excited and eager. Both the girls and boys have worked extremely hard to get to this point. Both teams are young, too. We are going to use this season as a springboard.”
A year ago, the West Lowndes boys did not win a game in the first month of the season. The Panthers righted the ship and made a run to Jackson and the MHSAA Class 1A state tournament. This season, the West Lowndes boys have won 22 games and set their sights firmly on a state championship. That quest begins tonight when French Camp is the opponent for a first-round matchup.
“The boys getting to Jackson really motivated us last year,” West Lowndes sophomore Shynice Watt said. “We want to be a part of that, too. We want to play for a state championship. The season started off kind of shaky. However, we got past all of that. In this game, we proved what we can do when everybody is out there working hard and we are playing team ball.”
West Lowndes quickly built a 14-0 lead less than three minutes into Monday’s contest. Neely had seven points and two blocked shots during that run. Keiara Bridges also hit a 3-pointer as the Panthers started the contest with strong ball movement.
“We wanted to start strong,” Neely said. “Coach knew we had a lot of anticipation for the game, so he said to put it to good use.”
Ethel (7-17) eventually got the ship righted and benefited from going inside of relying exclusively on the 3-ball. The Tigers actually came all the way back and grabbed a 27-25 lead on a 12-0 run.
From there, Ethel had one field goal over the final 3:56 of the half. West Lowndes shifted gears went to a full-court press and the game was essentially over.
“The press has been great to us all year,” Watt said. “We have really messed some teams up. Today it was huge. We were out there struggling.”
West Lowndes ended the half with a 14-2 run for a 39-29 lead at the break. In the second half, West Lowndes came out in the full-court pressure and quickly tacked on 10 more points.
Watt had three steals; Marvasysha Seals had two blocks and four steals and eighth grader Jakayla Anderson also had three steals during the game-decisive 24-2 run.
“The press has been very good to us,” Crawford said. “It was one of the last things that we put in and I am really proud at how it has helped change our season. We have good speed and good communication. Lord, if we ever play to our potential for four quarters, look out.”
Neely led West Lowndes with 15 points, while Watt had 14 points and Bridges added 10 points.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
