It’s no secret that the Starkville High girls’ basketball team’s offense goes through senior center Kelsey Jones.
The 6-foot-3 bruiser can dominate the boards and be a handful to defend on the block. But Starkville’s season motto, ‘stronger and better’ applies to everyone in the starting five.
And Saturday, against rival Tupelo at the Trojan Classic at New Hope, it was a guard who proved to be the strongest player on the court.
Sophomore point guard Jariyah Covington scored a game-high and career-high 23 points, helping the Lady Yellowjackets build a 16-point lead in the first half and clinch an 84-73 win.
Covington was especially vital in what proved to be a dizzying pace applied by the Lady Wave, which pressed for fast-break opportunities early and often. Covington responded immediately when Jones picked up her second foul early in the game, scoring 13 points in the first half.
“When Kelsey is not in, everyone thinks ‘oh, well there goes Starkville,'” said Kristie Williams, Starkville coach. “But what people don’t understand is we’re not a one-dimensional program. We have several players who can step up and make big buckets.”
Covington nailed a 3-pointer just before the end of the first half to send Starkville into the break with a 48-35 lead. Covington had four 3s in the game.
“It feels good, for me to be a sophomore, to have a great game after a tough loss,” Covington said. “We knew we had to play like that loss to Olive Branch (Wednesday) didn’t matter. We had to get the job done.
“A lot of teams key in on our post players, and even though we know that, we’re always going to go to them and use them. But it always opens up things for us (on the perimeter), and once we get to hitting shots, we stay hot.
Coming off a 76-68 loss to Olive Branch at the Travis Outlaw Slam Dunk at Mississippi State on Wednesday, Williams was keen to see her team put together a complete performance Saturday. While she it wasn’t an entirely clean performance or one of their best of the year, she was excited to see her squad match Tupelo’s energy, particularly in the third quarter, when the Lady Wave cut the Starkville lead to 63-59 following a pair of 3-pointers from Jalancia Kohlheim. Starkville (13-1) led by no fewer than 12 since the end of the first quarter, but offensive fouls by Jones and captain Tanita Thompson helped fuel the Tupelo run.
“I think it was a matter of our intensity on defense … we let go of our total effort down the stretch (in the third quarter),” Williams said. “You don’t want to start looking at that scoreboard, but we got a little lethargic and comfortable with that lead that we had. We got to fight through every possession until that final horn sounds, and I don’t think we did that down the stretch in the first half.”
Starkville immediately went to work early in the fourth, forcing five Tupelo turnovers in the Lady Wave’s first seven possessions, which powered a 9-0 run and a lead the Lady Jackets would not relinquish.
“It’s refreshing,” Williams said. “That was a heartbreaking loss (to Olive Branch). To play a tough team like Olive Branch and come up on the short end of the stick, I really appreciate the effort given tonight.
“This wasn’t our best game tonight. Tupelo is a young team, but they’re a hungry team, and they’re gonna fight and give you their best effort. I don’t want to take anything away from Tupelo, but we didn’t play our best. This was a grinder type of game.”
Thompson scored 16 and Jones had 14. Eryka Williams had 14 and Tabreea Gandy had 10 for Starkville. Kohlheim led Tupelo with 22.
Starkville returns to the court Monday at Columbus.
Starkville boys 64, Holmes County Central 43: Tyson Carter had six of Starkville High’s eight 3-pointers and Starkville cruised past Holmes County Central.
Starkville led just 12-7 after the first quarter, but Carter exploded for five 3s in the second quarter against Holmes Central’s zone defense.
“We came out and shot it well, early especially, and that dictated how the rest of the game went,” said Greg Carter, Starkville coach. “They wanted to zone a lot, and when you’re making shots, it makes it hard for them to zone. So we got some baskets around the lane. They got two pretty good guards, and I thought we guarded them well.”
Starkville (14-1) led 42-16 at the break and rested its starters in the third quarter.
Greg Carter said he was pleased with the win, particularly the defensive effort against Holmes County Central, which entered the game with three players averaging 13 points or more per game.
“We doubled them in the post, and once we did that, they took the big boy (Jeremy Herrell) out,” Greg Carter said. “We zoned the two guards and they couldn’t hit shots. Then we kept hitting threes. We hit maybe two or three to hit the second quarter, and that opened things up.”
Darrius Wilson and Jesse Little each had eight for Starkville. Holmes County Central fell to 8-7.
West Point boys 64, Caledonia 38: Austin Crowley scored 13 of his 15 points in the second quarter and West Point beat Caledonia 64-38 in the opening game of the second day of the Trojan Classic.
Shaundarius Westbrook and Shauquillian Wallace each added 12 for West Point.
Cody Coleman led Caledonia with 11 points.
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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