STARKVILLE — For lack of a better term, Starkville girls basketball took a rest for the third quarter and just looked out of sorts. 

A team that lost just four games in the regular season was in jeopardy of having to play in a third-place game in the MHSAA Class 6A, Region 1 tournament after Oxford outscored the Yellow Jackets, 24-11, in the third quarter of Monday’s game.

From eight down at half to five up headed into the fourth, momentum was on the side of the Chargers despite Starkville having home-court advantage.

Something needed to give and for the Jackets, that something came from its younger players, with Zariah Brown and Jada Gay scoring 15 of Starkville’s 21 fourth-quarter points, helping orchestrate a 62-58 comeback victory.

“I see a lot of me in Jada, so I just want to keep pushing her to be the best she can be,” junior Zariyah Edwards said. “She’s got a lot of talent. She can do big things, and then Zariah in the eighth grade, she’s going to do big things. I’ll be playing my next two years with her.”

Brown ended up leading the Jackets (19-3) in scoring with 15 points overall, 13 of those 15 points coming in the fourth quarter alone.

She turned on the afterburners, and Oxford didn’t seem to have an answer for her, especially as she made some big baskets and free throws down the stretch.

Most importantly, her play made up for what was a tough third quarter for Starkville, who seemingly had all of the momentum headed into halftime.

Whatever was said headed into the fourth quarter resonated with the Jackets, who got things going in a big way.

“I thought we were relaxing on defense,” Starkville head coach Kristie Williams said. “I thought we gave too many open shots. Teams like Oxford that have really great shooters, they’re going to find the rim if you don’t cover them.

“In the fourth, I thought we were locked in better. We started making plays on our end.”

Coming in as the higher seed in the district tournament, this game was far from a given, and the Chargers came out and went toe to toe with the Jackets until the final buzzer sounded.

It was a great test and situation for Starkville to show what kind of team it is down the stretch, finding a way to close things out even when playing with a deficit.

The win secured Starkville a place in the district championship game against Tupelo, and like how difficult it was on Monday to beat a team three times, it will be that much more difficult to beat the Golden Wave twice in the same season.

That really hasn’t fazed Starkville, which will be looking to once again defend home court before state playoffs begin.

“It’s going to be a battle,” Williams said. “Tupelo is a well-coached team. He’s got some really good players and this time of the year, I always tell my girls the better team is the one that can take care of the details.

“It’s the details this time of the year that you have to clean up in order to keep moving forward.”

The Jackets and Golden Wave will square off in the district title game at 6 p.m. Friday.