STARKVILLE — Jariyah Covington has a good memory.
The Starkville High School junior has plenty of good ones she can call on when she wants to reflect on the girls basketball team’s back-to-back runs to the Final Four of the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A State tournament.
Covington also has a few memories she would like to forget. But instead of erasing recollections of games last season against Jackson Jim Hill and Jackson Murrah from her mind, Covington has used those games as motivation to create even bigger memories.
The tactic is working to perfection for Covington and the Lady Yellow Jackets.
Buoyed by victories against Northwest Rankin and West Lowndes, the Starkville girls improved to 22-0 and continued to focus their sights on a return trip to Jackson. Covington, a 5-foot-5 guard played key roles in both wins last week to earn The Dispatch’s Prep Player of the Week honor.
“She has been very consistent,” Starkville High girls basketball coach Kristie Williams said. “She has been stepping up leadership wise throughout. To me, that shows her growth. She has been with us since her ninth-grade year, and she is continuously getting better and better.”
Williams said Covington’s hard work and effort have paved the way for her to be a bigger leader. She said she talked to Covington prior to the season about emerging as a louder voice on a team that has only one senior — center Kelsey Jones. Williams also said Covington recognized she had to elevate her game without having to be told. As a result, Covington has teamed with Jones and junior guard Tabreea Gandy to form a “three-headed monster” that has propelled the Lady Yellow Jackets to the top of the state’s highest classification.
“How well she plays trickles down to her teammates,” Williams said. “That is a great pat on the back for what she does. We appreciate what she does.”
Last season, Starkville beat Jackson Jim Hill 62-49 in the quarterfinals to advance to the Final Four in Jackson. Covington was 0-for-6 from the field in that game. Covington has only two points in a 44-42 loss to Jackson Murrah that ended Starkville’s season at 26-3.
This season, Covington intends to do a little more to help her team go all the way.
“We lost two big pieces in Eryka (Williams) and Tanita (Thompson) and we needed two more people to step up to help get the job done,” Covington said. “If nobody else would do it, I knew to take it upon myself that I had to do better than what I was doing the past two years.
“The past two years I haven’t given my all. I knew I could do better than what I was doing. I had to work harder in practice. It all started with summer ball,stepping up with summer ball. Whatever (coach Williams) needed me to do, I was trying my hardest to do it. Being a junior this year, it is my last two years, so I know it is either go hard or go home.”
Covington said the memory of the games against Jackson Jim Hill and Jackson Murrah “hurt” her because she realized she could have done more for her team if she would have given a little more effort. She said she now knows she has to be a player willing to step up and take big shots and to do her part on defense.
“I have been trying to stay strong for the team,” Covington said. “When my team is down, I try not to get down, too. I try to encourage them and tell them, ‘Let’s go. We got this.’ ”
Williams said Covington’s maturity allowed her to realize even more is going to be asked of her next season and in college, especially because she plays point guard. She said Covington hasn’t shied away from that responsibility and has continued to push herself to improve in all areas.
“She is setting the bar high for herself and she is keeping it there because she knows down the stretch that she is going to have to carry us along with Tabreea Gandy,” Williams said. “They are going to be the nucleus of our team next year. Right now, she is a part of that nucleus and she knows that her effort and her dedication to getting my teammates and myself better are going to carry through the rest of our season and her senior year.”
Williams said Starkville’s 34-32 victory against Northwest Rankin in a Class 6A, Region 3 game was a “grind-it-out” type of situation. She said Covington was one of the calming forces that helped the Lady Yellow Jackets overcome “a tale of two halves” that featured a defensive grind in the final 16 minutes. She said key rebounds and free throws allowed the team to stay unbeaten prior to its victory against West Lowndes on Saturday.
Williams said Covington has developed poise on the court as she has come to understand the importance of staying calm when she handles the ball 95 percent of the time.
Covington said her first two years on the varsity team were “rocky” in part because she wasn’t sure what role to play. This season, Covington has assumed a variety of jobs — floor general, scorer, facilitator — to make sure the Lady Yellow Jackets stay on course. If needed, Covington also will be happy to play the role of motivator because she has at least two games that are still fresh in her mind that are driving her to help her team win a state title.
“I am really shocking myself because I have been waiting for this Jariyah to come out,” Covington said. “I wish this me could have come out the past two years I was on the team, but it is a good feeling to know I am doing what I should have been doing, and it is finally coming out.”
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino on Twitter @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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