STARKVILLE — Starkville Academy senior Raheim Robinson knows now is the time for the Volunteers to play with more urgency.
“We have to come to practice and really work hard,” Robinson said. “It is time to go all out if we are going to make some noise in the tournaments. We have to be better on offense, and we really have to be intense.”
Starkville Academy will enter the final week of the regular season with momentum after it defeated Greenville Washington School 43-31 on Friday night in a Mississippi Association of Independent Schools Class AAA, District 1 game.
Starkville Academy (9-18, 4-9 district) will close the regular season Tuesday with a trip to Presbyterian Christian and Friday with a home game against Jackson Academy, which will be its final district game. The Volunteers would be the fourth seed from the north in MAIS Class AAA, Division II tournament, which starts Feb. 10 at East Rankin Academy.
“We have not had a lot of wins, so any win is a really good win,” Starkville Academy coach Mark Alexander said. “However, I didn’t think we played that well. We had 20-something turnovers. If we are going to step up and beat some good teams in the postseason, we will have to be much better on the offensive end.”
Starkville Academy was plenty good enough to get past Washington. The Generals held only one lead –10-9 — at the end of the first quarter after Ben Tarver drained back-to-back 3-pointers in the final 45 seconds.
Starkville Academy only allowed one field goal in the second quarter and wasn’t in any real danger the rest of the way. The Volunteers led 24-13 at halftime.
“The first time we played them, they started in a zone and we made some shots and they went man-to-man,” said Robinson, who led Starkville Academy with 15 points. “We really got the shots we wanted, but we didn’t make enough of them. Even though we played defense and we played hard, we got to find a way to be more consistent on offense. When we miss some shots, we can’t get down. We have to keep working hard.”
The Volunteers applied full-court trapping pressure in the first meeting. Finding something that worked well, Starkville Academy applied the same game plan in the rematch.
“Our full-court defense was outstanding,” Alexander said. “I didn’t think we were any good in the half court. We let them get good shots at the basket. When we picked them up full court and applied the pressure, we were really good. We got some turnovers and made some things happen.”
Bradley Weseli added nine points for the Volunteers. Seven came in the final quarter.
“It is all about balance on offense because we are solid on the defensive end,” Robinson said. “On defense, we have five guys working hard, hustling after balls, applying pressure. On offense, we need more rhythm. We need to make more shots and find a way to turn it up a little bit because we will play some really good teams in the postseason. I like where we are, but we can always go to practice and get better.”
In the opener, the Starkville Academy girls (22-9, 10-3 district) rolled to a 52-32 victory. The Lady Volunteers will be top seed on the north side at the district tournament.
“Hopefully, this is the start of another win streak,” Starkville Academy coach Glenn Schmidt said. “I thought the seniors really came out and laid it on the floor because this was their next-to-last home game. Our seniors are having to do more ballhandling this year, and that has been an adjustment. Nora Kathyrn (Carroll) and Sallie Kate (Richardson) did a great job of handling the ball against their pressure.”
Richardson and Carroll combined for 11 of the team’s 13 assists. Junior Anna McKell led the Lady Volunteers with 15 points.
“The tone of the game was set by the two seniors,” Schmidt said. “Washington is a really well-coached team, and I thought they would defend us well, so our job was to defend them better.”
Schmidt complimented the play of sophomores Maris Moorhead and Jacey Williams, both of whom are primarily in charge of defending the other team’s point guard. Fellow sophomore Adrienne Futral also provided solid play off the bench.
Starkville Academy built a 13-2 lead less than four minutes in. The Lady Volunteers led 29-21 at halftime, but they allowed only three field goals in the final half.
Richardson had 14 points, seven assists, two steals, and two blocked shots. Carroll added 13 points, four assists, three steals, and two blocks. McKell added five steals.
n On Saturday, Memphis Home Education beat Starkville Academy 65-37. Richardson and Carroll each had 12 points, while McKell had nine points. Richardson grabbed eight rebounds, had two assists, and had two blocked shots. McKell added eight rebounds.
n In other prep basketball action Friday night, the New Hope girls beat Saltillo. Moesha Calmes led the Lady Trojans with 16 points. She also had two assists. D.J. Sanders had 14 points, eight rebounds, and four steals, Mercedes Mattix had 14 points, three assists, and six steaks, and Taylor Baudoin had 12 points and four steals.
New Hope’s game late Saturday against Itawamba Agricultural at the Robertson Sportswear Classic wasn’t completed in time for this edition.
Follow Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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