STARKVILLE — On a night when the Starkville Academy girls basketball team was searching for its offense, its defense came through in the nick of time.
Starkville Academy, the state’s top-ranked Class AAA academy team by The Clarion-Ledger, survived a scare Monday night, defeating Oak Hill Academy 45-36 in overtime.
In the nightcap, the Starkville Academy boys completed the sweep with a 66-48 victory.
The Lady Volunteers posted a 9-0 shutout in the extra period. The Lady Raiders managed three shots in the final 15 seconds of regulation but none fell. They had seven misses in the extended session.
“We had our chances,” Oak Hill Academy coach Stan Hughey said. “It should have never gotten to overtime. We got a lead there in the fourth quarter but couldn’t get the shot to put them away. Things got away from us in the overtime. A couple of critical turnovers and missed free throws did us in.”
Starkville Academy (9-0) appeared in control throughout the early stages. It led 13- 6 after one quarter and stretched the lead to 16-6 when Julianne Jackson sank 1 of 2 free throws with six minutes left before halftime.
Oak Hill Academy (7-2) scored the next six points. The teams then traded baskets in the final half-minute to give the Lady Volunteers an 18-14 halftime lead.
“Our offense just really wasn’t there tonight,” Starkville Academy Anna Prestridge said. “We started out slow, but in the second half we had more energy. We played well as a team and were fortunate to pull it out.”
The contest tightened when Oak Hill Academy’s Rachel Herndon hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key less than a minute into the second half. Still, the Lady Raiders couldn’t sustain the momentum. Starkville Academy’s Nora K. Carroll scored on a putback prior to a steal and a fast-break layup by Prestridge. The defense sparked an 8-2 run to give the hosts a 28-21 lead after three quarters.
“Our effort was really tremendous tonight,” Hughey said. “If you don’t play hard in this gym, you will get blown out. The fourth quarter was our best quarter. The girls did not get down. They kept competing and we had a chance there at the end. We just couldn’t make the key shot to build the lead.”
The Lady Volunteers still led 31-24 before a 10-2 run by the guests. A steal by Herndon led to a 3-pointer by Tori Ellis. The next possession saw Shay Atkins drive hard and draw a foul. Atkins hit both free throws to give Oak Hill a 34-33 lead.
“Anytime you play against a Stan Hughey-coached team, it’s never over,” Starkville Academy coach Glenn Schmidt said. “You know his teams are going to have a plan to stop you from scoring. You have your work cut out for you. In my 35 years of coaching, he is the hardest coach to prepare for. His teams do a great job of doing what he wants them to do.”
For Starkville Academy, Sallie Kate Richardson hit a game-tying free throw. Each team came up empty on its next possession, but Atkins fouled out with 2 minutes, 21 seconds left in regulation.
Oak Hill Academy then worked the clock before Maegan Ellis drew a foul when Starkville Academy tried to intercept a pass. Ellis hit both free throws for a 36-34 lead with 44 seconds left.
Starkville Academy answered as Richardson tied the game with a jump shot with 30 seconds left in regulation.
“Our defense was not at its best tonight,” Prestridge said. “However, we really pulled it together when we had to.”
In the overtime, Richardson scored on the Lady Volunteers’ first possession. After Oak Hill Academy missed the front end of a one-and-one, Richardson hit 1 of 2 free throws. After a steal by Richardson, April Burney hit a back-breaking jump shot, one step inside the 3-point line.
“We did a really good job of help defense until the overtime,” Hughey said. “We were doing a good job of sending people and then didn’t get that done in the overtime. Give credit to Starkville Academy for hitting some big shots in the extra period.”
Prestridge had 14 points, while Richardson had 13 points and 13 rebounds. The Lady Volunteers were credited with 10 blocked shots, including six by Richardson.
“The word on us is we like to score a lot of points,” Schmidt said. “We like to get up and down the floor. We like to move the ball inside. Oak Hill did their best to take a lot of that away from us. All you can say about this game really is at least we won.”
Oak Hill received 11 points and 10 rebounds from Tori Ellis. Anna Ready had four of her team’s seven steals.
In the nightcap, the Starkville Academy boys pulled away from a four-point halftime lead with a 14-2 run midway through the third quarter.
Calvin Young paced Starkville Academy (4-2) with 21 points, while Austin Kinard hit four 3-pointers and finished with 20 points.
“Austin really stepped it up for us,” Starkville Academy coach Mark Alexander said. “When he is on from the outside that allows us to move the ball inside to Calvin more. Our perimeter game was good tonight. We had a good offensive rhythm in the second half.”
The Volunteers also received 12 points from Carnail Minor and 10 points from Zachary Gerhart.
“We really didn’t play well in the first half,” Alexander said. “We challenged the kids to play with more effort on both ends of the floor. I thought in the second half, we really did a good job of that. Our challenge is playing more consistently.”
Oak Hill (3-3) received 18 points from A.J. Jones and 12 points from John Wesley Williamson.
“Kinard really hurt us there in the second half,” Oak Hill coach Brian Middleton said. “They had a stretch where they hit several shots in a row. We couldn’t keep up once they found their rhythm.”
Oak Hill Academy will travel to Heritage Academy on Monday, while Starkville Academy will return to action Tuesday in the Madison-Ridgeland Academy Invitational.
Scott was sports editor for The Dispatch.
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