STARKVILLE — Distractions don’t faze Jariyah Covington.
Whether it is running the point or sniping from the wing, the Starkville High School junior guard has become adept at blocking out the talk and focusing on her job.
Greg Carter put Covington’s focus to the test Tuesday afternoon.
While Covington was talking about the Starkville High girls basketball team’s 65-34 victory against Grenada in the seventh-annual Travis Outlaw Slam Dunk at the Hump, Carter, the Starkville High boys basketball coach, tried to distract her. Carter stood tall behind reporters and tried to make eye contact with Covington. When Covington lowered her eyes and bowed her head, Carter bent at the knees and tried again to get Covington’s attention and force her to lose her train of thought.
None of Carter’s attempts worked.
Covington proved to be just as focused on the court, scoring a team-high 24 points to lead three players in double figures in the first game of the two-day event at Mississippi State’s Humphrey Coliseum.
Jalisa Outlaw had 17 points and Kelsey Jones added 15 to help Starkville (13-0), which was ranked No. 3 behind Murrah and Olive Branch in The Clarion-Ledger’s preseason Super 10 rankings.
Starkville, which will play Harrison Central at 2:30 p.m. today, led 18-11 after one quarter and 36-19 at halftime and never was challenged.
Covington helped orchestrate the win, which came without junior guard Tabreea Gandy, who didn’t play due to a viral infection, according to Starkville girls basketball coach Kristie Williams. Covington admitted it felt a little “weird” playing without Gandy because she said they work so well together. But Covington scored 10-straight points from the end of the first quarter into the second quarter. She returned the favor following her second 3-pointer in that stretch, which came off an assist from Outlaw, by feeding Outlaw for a jump shot that gave Starkville a 23-13 lead with 6 minutes, 20 seconds to play in the second quarter.
“I know I had to play more aggressive today and do more than I usually do and rely on my teammates to have my back,” Covington said. “When I am on, I am on, but when I am off I tend to let it get to me, but I try to stop that and keep playing hard.”
Covington offered another dimension of her game by feeding Jones in the post. The pass came after Jones, a 6-foot-3 senior center, ran the court after Covington pushed tempo. Covington’s pass to Jones’ right hand allowed her teammate to work on the right block and then turn on her defender and score.
Williams said Covington’s game has blossomed in the last two years she has been a member of the varsity team.
Covington credited her brother, Qu’Various Howard, who is an assistant coach for the Starkville High boys basketball team, for helping her learn how to shoot the basketball when she was in the second and third grade. She said she used to work with her brother wherever they could find a regulation rim. She smiled and said she didn’t have any difficulty getting shots up to the rim, even if they didn’t all go in.
Covington’s shooting form is a little more polished these days. She looked at ease shooting from 3-point range, knocking down four treys in an effort that fell two points shy of a season-high 26-point game in a 70-48 victory against Meridian on Nov. 10.
Covington, who is averaging 14.1 points per game, showed she is equally adept scoring from distance or taking the basketball to the rim. She acknowledged she showed a little hesitancy at the end of the third quarter when she missed a 3-pointer and another jump shot. In that time, Starkville High assistant coach Anita Johnson encouraged Covington to be aggressive and to step in and shoot the ball when she was left unguarded. She then challenged Covington by telling her, “You might be a shooter.” Covington’s next shot, a 3-pointer, rattled in and out before she assisted on a basket by Outlaw and then capped her afternoon with a 3-pointer, a layup, and another assist on a basket by Outlaw.
“They do that all of the time,” Williams said of the back-and-forth Covington has with Johnson in practice. “They like to kid around a lot. It is fun to see them go at it with each other. All it does it encourages Jariyah to take those big shots when they are available and not hesitate because we are going to need them down the stretch.”
Covington said she also is trying to be more of a presence on defense. Williams tried to emphasize that point before the third quarter when she said, “Defense 12, defense” as she held the basketball between her hands and appeared to try to shake it. Covington, who wears No. 12, attempted to live up to Williams’ encouragement by guarding Grenada’s best shooter. She followed her player off a baseline screen up to the top of the key and then forced a held ball on the pass.
“Sometimes I tend not to want to play defense because I get so caught up on offense that defense isn’t on my mind,” Covington said. “(Coach Williams) was trying to tell me I had to stay with it. When we play bigger teams that have more aggressive guards, Tabreea and I have the best two guards, so when we play another team that has guards that are as good as we are, you get used to playing defense tough on them.”
Covington said she will continue to polish her defense and to improve her shooting when she works with assistant coach Gwen Johnson and the rest of the guards. She said she is trying to jump as high as she can when she shoots jump shots so she can be a bigger threat from everywhere on the court.
“I am a shooter,” Covington said when asked about her conversations with Anita Johnson. “I know in the back of my head I am a shooter. She gets me ready for when other teams try to say something and throw me off. She says that to see if my head is still in the game and for me to keep shooting, even when I am off.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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