By Daniel Rigdon / Sports Writer
The Meridian Star
MERIDIAN — It was senior night at Meridian High, however, a junior stepped up for the Wildcats and stole the show as the Meridian girls basketball team overcame a slow start to clinch its regular-season finale Friday night.
Aquashia Anderson came through in the clutch and led Meridian to a 47-36 victory against the visiting Ridgeland Titans.
Both teams were unable to get things going offensively as they combined for a total of just 13 points in the first period. Neither team led by more than two points in the quarter.
Meridian (15-9) seemed to grab the momentum in the second going on a 10-3 run in the first six minutes. But Ridgeland fought back and reeled off eight straight points of its own to knot things up heading into the intermission. The Wildcats shot poorly in the opening half going 0-11 from 3-point range, while turning the ball over 10 times.
"We were rushing shots," said Meridian coach Patricia Wilson. "Instead of us being patient and trying to get our flow we just kept rushing those baskets."
Anderson would give the Wildcats the spark they needed coming out of the locker room as she drilled back-to-back 3-pointers in the opening minutes to break the contest wide open. Anderson went on to shoot 4-6 from 3-point land in the second half.
"That was very big," Wilson said about Anderson's hot start. "That jump-started our offense and got us back into the flow of things."
When the buzzer sounded to end the third period, Meridian held its largest lead at 33-21.
The Wildcats stretched the lead to 13 points in the fourth before the Titans (3-22) would make a mini-run to bring them within nine points. However, Meridian proved to be too much for Ridgeland and pocketed the 11-point victory.
"I told them just take your time, we're bigger on the inside," said Wilson. "When Aquashia hit those shots it drew their defense out and opened things up for us."
Anderson led all scorers with 22 points, while Kayla Gordon dropped in nine points and pulled down four rebounds.
Ridgeland was paced by Harriet Wilson's 10 points.
Meridian opens up the Division 5-6A tournament Tuesday afternoon as it takes on Brandon at 4 p.m. in Hattiesburg.
Meridian boys 67
Ridgeland 59
Meridian High got all it wanted from visiting Ridgeland on Friday night but used solid free-throw shooting and defense to hold on for its 21st win of the season and head into postseason play on a five-game winning streak.
Neither team could seem to find an edge in the opening quarter trading basket-for-basket and a Titan layup as time expired put Meridian (21-6) down 17-16 after eight minutes of play.
Despite a 4-0 Wildcat run to open the second quarter, Ridgeland (20-8) found its way and outscored Meridian 9-3 over the final five minutes of the half to give itself somewhat of a cushion at the break at 29-23.
Meridian battled back in the third period shifting momentum to its side scoring seven unanswered points over three minutes and grabbed a five-point advantage at 42-37 heading into the fourth.
Rodney Hood paved the way to victory in the fourth as he found his way to the charity stripe for eight attempts and converted all of them. Hood was 9-9 for the night from the stripe as the Wildcats outlasted the Titans to take an eight-point win.
Overall, Meridian went a solid 16-21 from the foul line.
"We always put the emphasis on free throws in practice because we know we can win or lose games at the free throw line," said Meridian coach Randy Bolden. "Tonight we stepped up at the end and made our free throws."
Hood paced the 'Cats with 25 points and four rebounds, while Devin Cherry dropped in 11 of his own.
The Titans got a 21-point performance from Donovan Ross and LeAntwan Luckett went for 13.
"Ridgeland is a really good team," said Bolden. "They were a top-10 team to start the season and returned every starter from last year."
The Wildcats face Oak Grove in the first round of the Division 5-6A tournament Tuesday night in Hattiesburg at 5:30 p.m.
