STARKVILLE — Starkville High School sophomore center Kelsey Jones knew her team needed a lift Tuesday night.
Jones stepped up and provided it.
Scoring nine points in a five-minute stretch of the fourth quarter, Jones helped Starkville work its way past Madison Central 47-28 in an opening-round game of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A, Region 3 tournament Tuesday night at Starkville High.
“I knew we needed some help to advance,” Jones said. “We kind of hit the wall there and lost our confidence. It was up to me to make sure we got it back. We were playing at home and we really needed this win.”
Starkville (22-4) will face Columbus (16-10) at 7 p.m. Friday for the region championship. The win — Starkville’s 10th straight — guarantees it a spot in next week’s Class 6A North State playoffs. However, Starkville will look to defend its home turf, win a region title, and secure a first-round bye in the playoffs Friday night.
“We knew from the beginning of the season we would be playing the region tournament at home, and we want to win that championship,” Starkville coach Kristie Williams said. “It’s good that you win Tuesday and you know you are in. We are excited about that. It’s all about Friday night. We know we will have a really big crowd, and we want to go out and win a championship on our home floor. (Even though we are in), it’s just a big deal for us to win Friday night.”
Friday night became a big deal thanks to the play of Jones (21 points, 12 rebounds) inside and junior Eryka Williams (11 points, five assists) outside.
“Kelsey knew we needed a lift, and she really put us on her back,” William said. “She is a model of consistency. She is never too high or never too low and incredibly mature to be a sophomore. The best thing she did tonight was she played through foul trouble. She is 6-2 and has the biggest presence of any player on the court, so it’s natural she is involved in almost every play and involved in a lot of contact. She can have the 50-50 calls go against her quite naturally. We knew we had a size advantage underneath. She drew some early fouls, so we couldn’t take advantage of it then. Late in the game, when we had to have it, she really delivered.”
Jones scored 31 points in a 62-40 win against Madison Central two weeks ago at home. It appeared the Lady Jackets were carving a similar path when they scored the game’s first 12 points.
From there, the Lady Jackets were never in any real danger but also unable to seal the deal.
“Complacency set in,” William said. “Sometimes as a coach you are so worried about how you are going to start a game and you aren’t as concerned about the middle. We started fine. We had some great intensity and really came out ready to play at home in a big game and play well.
“Then we got complacent. Credit to Madison Central for competing and staying in the game. However, we didn’t do the things that got us the lead. We let the early foul trouble get to us. We let our inability to rebound and block out on some loose balls get to us. It’s a win. It was the win we had to have. However, we know we will have to play much better Friday night.”
Starkville also took a 45-37 win at Madison Central in January.
“In the playoffs, it’s totally different,” Williams said. “You know you are going to get everybody’s best shot. You may be playing your last or, in this case, next-to-last game, so everybody is going to play desperate. It doesn’t matter how many wins you had in the regular season, you have to match the other team’s level of intensity and level of desperation.”
Starkville did that in the fourth quarter when Jones took over. Leading 28-19 in the final half-minute of the third quarter, Starkville put together a 17-4 run, which included a do-it-all performance from Jones, mixed in with some excellent defensive play by Williams and two critical baskets by Jariyah Covington.
The run enabled Starkville to turn its thoughts to a potential three-game series sweep of Columbus.
“Everybody will be coming across the river for this one,” Williams said. “The last meeting we won in double overtime, so now it’s the third meeting, and Columbus has played better and better each week. We know we have our work cut out for us. You approach the game with confidence because of the past success, but you also know it will be battle because of that past success.”
Madison Central (8-17) will face Northwest Rankin at 4 p.m. Friday in the tournament’s third-place game for another spot in the North State playoffs. Alexia Harmon led the Lady Jaguars with nine points.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Scott Walters on Twitter @dispatchscott
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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