STARKVILLE – Like the rest of her perimeter teammates, Jacqueline Fair was told by her coaches to stop shooting three-pointers because they simply weren’t falling.
With 25 seconds left in the game and her team down two points, the senior guard found herself behind the three-point arc with no choice but to put up one more shot from long range.
Fair’s only basket of the second half and the only three-pointer for Starkville all evening gave the Lady Jackets a dramatic 36-35 victory over Grenada Friday night.
“I just had a feeling that one would fall and I’m so glad that it did and allowed us to win the game,” Fair said.
With 30 seconds left in the game, Starkville senior guard Sheneka Townsel drove to the free throw line and instead of forcing a contested shot, the 5-foot-7 point guard flipped the ball to a wide open Fair for the game-winning shot.
“I was hoping to get the ball kicked out to me,” Fair said. “I wanted to chance to give us the win.”
Starkville (5-3) had to sweat out two missed free throws by senior forward Kadesha Goldman with 4.6 seconds left to ensure their second victory against the Lady Chargers.
“It was a big win because we thought we’d come out and win but we played around with them too much instead of playing our game,” Fairsaid.
Grenada (1-10) had the lead with a minute to go in the contest and gave up four turnovers in that period of time with Fair’s shot near the end being what finally led to their downfall.
“The key to this game was our inability to handle the basketball,” Grenada coach Kenneth Ross said. “The fact of the matter is we lost a lot of experience from last year and we’re just not very good. It’s that simple.”
The Lady Chargers were led by a game-high 15 points mostly on steals near midcourt that would result in the point guard going the other way for a nuncontested layup.
Starkville, which didn’t have a lead until mid-way through the second quarter, never a bigger advantage than three points throughout the whole contest. The Lady Jackets got 12 points from both Janay Townsell and Brittany Brown.
Starkville coach Kristie Williams was unavailable after the game due to a non-life threatening medical emergency involving one of players.
SHS boys 90, Grenada 61
Starkville coach Greg Carter knew his team had to start fast and get through an overmatched Grenada team as soon as possible before a highlighted matchup today with Jackson Lanier.
The Yellowjackets got off to its best first quarter start of the 2011-12 season and in route to a 90-61 blowout over Grenada.
“We talked about in pre-game the importance of getting off to a good start,” Carter said. “We came out making shots and that led to us defending well and rebounding. Everything just fell into place together.”
SHS (9-0) made 13 three-point shots and got out to a 12-2 run after the opening tip to pace their victory. Even after star center Gavin Ware picked up his third foul in the first quarter, Starkville’s shooting from senior guard Jacolby Mobley was nearly unstoppable at certain times.
The senior even drained a shot from beyond the three-point arc in the near corner to end the first quarter with his body pointed parallel to the basket.
“When we’re shooting it that well and defended it too, we’re pretty tough to beat,” Carter said. “We just got to put it together in long stretches and we’re getting better at that with a tough stretch of games coming up.”
Mobley would lead all scorers with 22 points and had four three-point conversions.
Without the presence of Ware for most of the first half, SHS forward Tori Rice took over the inside presence scoring 20 points mostly off layups and putbacks in the paint.
“Once (Ware) went out and Tori filled in that center spot but with the rebounding and scoring too,” Carter said. “What they were doing is leaving him one on one against his guy and Tori would score at will.”
Ware, a Mississippi State signee, would end with 14 points even after suffering through early foul trouble and got most of his damage on dunks in the second half.
Starkville will travel tomorrow afternoon to play Lanier (7-1) in a matchup of traditional state basketball powers.
“You don’t want to be playing down to the wire in games people favor you to win and then you got a big game coming up the next day,” Carter said. “We didn’t need to be physically and mentally drained going down there to play them. It’s really tough for 16, 17, 18-year old kids to do.”
Columbus girls win
MACON — The Columbus Lady Falcons knocked off Noxubee County 55-34 Friday night.
Maggie Proffitt paced Columbus with 16 points, while Kiandria Patterson had 15 and Kameron Corrothers added nine.
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