By DAVID MILLER
Special to The Dispatch
STARKVILLE — Kristie Williams, welcome to the “Big House.”
The 11th year coach of the Starkville High girls basketball team has been on the doorstep of Jackson multiple times during her career, and she’s sent a host of players to the next level.
But with a freshman point guard — Jariyah Covington — running the offense and a sophomore post — Kelsey Jones — leading the team in scoring, Starkville, if Vegas could put odds on high school basketball, would have made the Lady Jackets a long shot to make it to the Class 6A state tournament.
The Lady Jackets, much like they’ve done all year, didn’t look like a dark-horse title contender in Saturday’s home playoff game against Clinton.
Kelsey Jones scored 24 points and Eryka Williams scored 14 to lead Starkville to a 50-36 win over the Lady Arrows.
Starkville will play at 8 p.m. Saturday in the Mississippi Coliseum.
“Improvement,” Williams said. “So much hard work in practice, playing together as a team. This game turned into a dog fight, and we were ready for it.”
Starkville raced out to a 15-0 lead behind strong post play by Jones and back-to-back 3-pointers by Covington. The Lady Jackets led by as many as 16 points in the first half and led by 12 at the break. But the hot-shooting Lady Jackets’ hot shooting in the first half disappeared in the third quarter when Clinton cut the lead six.
Williams called a timeout to re-group her squad.
“We called a timeout and told them they can’t get caught in their feelings, the ‘woe is me’ feeling, trying to figure out what’s going wrong with shots not falling,” Kristie Williams said. “I had to let them know this is our house, and if we wanted to get to the Big House, we have to win this.”
Eryka Williams obliged her coach and knocked down a pair of 3-pointers and a long 2-point jumper during a decisive 12-4 run in the fourth quarter.
“I think the tiredness of the game started to get to us, and maybe that’s why we started missing a lot of shots,” she said. “But our guards played well tonight, and we got a lot of high-low looks with Kelsey that got us going again.”
The Lady Jackets will face Hattiesburg in the opening round of the Class 6A state tournament in Jackson.
For Kristie Williams, who won a state title as a player at Starkville High, reaching the state tournament is a monkey she’s happy to throw off her back. To boot, Clinton eliminated the Lady Jackets, who featured Mississippi State freshman Blair Schaefer, from the playoffs last season.
“It was plenty nerve-wracking,” she said whilst preparing for Saturday’s win. “The game last night threw a kink in things, and then, with the two snow days, we didn’t get a chance to practice those two days. The layover in between was not anything we weren’t ready for. I teach them that in life, you have work tthrough adverse moments.
“These ladies want to give me their best.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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