Starkville High School senior basketball players Jalisa Outlaw and Jamarrion Brown made their college decisions official Wednesday morning.
Outlaw will continue her career at Central Arkansas while Brown will play at Holmes Community College.
“It’s always exciting as a coach to see guys sign scholarships to go on to the next level,” Starkville boys head coach Greg Carter said. “You’ve already watched them grow and mature as players and as people, now you watch them take that next step.”
Outlaw, a 5-foot-7 guard, averaged 17.7 points per game this season while leading the Yellow Jackets to the second round of the Mississippi High School Activities Association 6A playoffs.
“It was icing on the cake,” Starkville girls head coach Kristie Williams said of watching Outlaw sign. “Because she’s worked so hard for us these last four years and when you put in the hard work it really does pay off.”
A scorer by nature, Williams pointed to Outlaw’s stellar mid-range shooting and ability to create opportunities off the bounce as what makes her a matchup problem.
“It’s kind of hard for anyone to pinpoint how to guard her because she is so strong with the basketball as far as the decision-making with the shooting range that she has,” Williams said. “She’s going to be one that is really hard to guard throughout her time at Central Arkansas.”
Brown averaged 10 points and 4 rebounds per game as a silent leader for the Yellow Jackets’ State Championship team this winter.
Carter described him as a defensive catalyst whose offensive game has continued to improve over the past few seasons.
“Just watching him develop over the years from watching him be a little bit timid and shy in 10th grade to coming out and being one of the more aggressive guys I’ve seen,” Carter said.
Ben Portnoy reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @bportnoy15.
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