Danny Crawford doesn’t believe in setting the bar low.
He also doesn’t care if one of his teams is a year ahead of schedule.
Crawford and the West Lowndes High School girls and boys basketball teams are going to Jackson to win the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 1A State championships.
“I feel very confident,” Crawford said. “For the girls, I feel we are a year early. This year, my top two guards, sophomore Aerial Boswell and sophomore Edmariah Sherrod, went down with injuries for the year and I moved eighth-graders up and (senior) Alexis (Neely) to the post. We’re playing really, really, really good.
“My expectations for the boys is very simple: win the 1A state championship. The boys are very talented, hungry, and disciplined. My expectations for them is to go down there and take care of business one game at a time and win it.”
The first steps will come Thursday, when the girls team takes on Biggersville at 9 a.m. at Jackson State and the boys team will play Biggersville at 1 p.m. at Mississippi Coliseum.
Both teams have a blend of experience, size, youth, and athleticism that has fueled their run to the quarterfinals of the state tournament. It is the first time both West Lowndes teams have advanced to Jackson since 2006.
As much as Crawford calls his style of play “easy,” the first year coach admits the both teams had to go through transition periods to fall in line with his aggressive, disciplined brand of basketball. Against a schedule that included plenty of higher classification teams, the West Lowndes girls enter Thursday’s game at 17-15, while the boys come in at 24-8.
A year ago, Crawford and the West Oktibbeha County High boys team came one win short of securing a trip to Jackson in the final year of the school. The West Lowndes boys also fell a win shy. This season, Crawford is eager to help the West Lowndes girls and boys play on center stage in Jackson for the sport’s top prizes.
“It is going to be full of anxiety for myself and the kids,” Crawford said. “Knowing they are going to feed off my energy, I am just going to have to play it cool and remain focused and treat it like another game. The earlier the kids relax and start playing basketball, the better we’re going to be.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.