Choctaw Central girls best NE Lauderdale 60-38

Published 11:35 pm Friday, November 17, 2017

In Lewis Lightsey’s words, great teams do what Choctaw Central did Friday night.

The Northeast Lauderdale basketball coach watched his girls compete hard against the defending Class 3A state champions, but the Lady Warriors’ starters and bench both proved too much for the Lady Trojans as Choctaw Central won 60-38.

The score was 20-9 after one quarter of play, and Lightsey did say he was happy with his team making it a relatively close game early. In the end, though, Choctaw Central proved too much.

“I thought we played really hard,” Lightsey said. “We’re just young, and we have to gain experience playing really good teams like that. I thought we made a great run in the second quarter to get it back to 11, and then they do what great teams do and kind of push it back out to 20 before halftime. We kept battling and trying, and it’ll be a good experience for us and hopefully will make us better in the long run.”

Choctaw Central head coach Bill Smith said he would have liked to see more enthusiasm from his team Friday. 

“It wasn’t near what we were expecting,” Smith said. “I think we didn’t come out ready to play — weren’t mentally ready — and they started out pretty good making some shots. We just didn’t play with a lot of enthusiasm tonight.”

After having an 11-point lead through one quarter, Choctaw Central’s Jennavia Bollin, Malanian Jimmie and Tia’Rain Saunders all hit 3-pointers in the second to help the Lady Warriors to a 38-18 halftime lead. Despite a strong effort by Northeast Lauderdale’s Mercedes Blanks early in the third quarter — she scored six points in the opening four minutes — the Grant twins, Kyarrah and Kyannah, helped Choctaw Central go on an 11-5 run midway through the third frame. 

After that, the backups played the rest of the game for the Lady Warriors, and they took a 52-31 lead into the fourth quarter. Choctaw Central outscored Northeast Lauderdale 8-7 in the final period.

Blanks finished with eight points for Northeast Lauderdale, and Daisha Robinson led the Lady Trojans with 12 points. Lightsey was complimentary of Molly Moore and Nesha Moss, who finished with four and three points, respectively.

“Mercedes played well and got some baskets,” Lightsey said. “Even though we turned it over a lot, our guards played pretty well. Molly Moore and  Moss, for the pressure they were under, they got some baskets. I know they turned it over a few times, but considering they’re youngsters who haven’t played a lot and were under that kind of pressure, they did pretty well.”

Choctaw Central didn’t just wait until the fourth quarter to get the backups in, as the Lady Warriors’ bench was on the court at least several minutes per quarter. The Lady Warriors (4-0) will play Class 6A power Starkville in the Neshoba Central Classic Saturday, and Smith said the plan was to get the bench plenty of work in preparation for that game.

“That was the game plan,” Smith said. “We have a big game (Saturday) with Starkville, the No. 1 team in the state. We knew we wouldn’t play the starters the whole game if we (didn’t have to), so it worked out pretty good for us.”

Kyannah Grant finished with nine points for Choctaw Central, while Kyarrah Grant had seven. Meloney Thames led Choctaw Central with 12 points. Bollin and Lachrisha Williams both had seven points for the Lady Warriors. 

Choctaw Central was without standout Kaedre Denson, as she sustained an ankle injury during the first quarter. She finished the game with four points, and Smith said he didn’t know the severity of the injury immediately after the game.

Northeast Lauderdale fell to 2-4 on the season.