JACKSON — The offense just couldn’t get going for the Neshoba Central girls Friday morning.

Faced with the tall task of taking on a Hattiesburg team that entered the game 23-6, the Lady Rockets needed a strong offensive showing to counter the Lady Tigers’ size inside in the quarterfinal round of the MHSAA Class 5A playoffs at Jackson State.

Unfortunately for the Lady Rockets, they would finish just 13 of 44 in field goals as Hattiesburg was able to maintain a comfortable lead throughout most of the contest. The Lady Tigers came away with a 48-38 victory, ending Neshoba Central’s season.

“The better team won,” Lady Rockets head coach Fred Morris said. “We didn’t make shots, and we knew they were going to focus on getting the ball inside. We didn’t do a good job of limiting them to one possession, and that was the key to the game, not taking care of limiting them to one shot and defending them in the paint — and, of course, us not making shots.”

The Lady Tigers’ go-to player was sophomore Melyia Grayson, and Neshoba Central had no answer for the 6-foot-4 center, as she finished with a game-high 19 points while also pulling down 11 rebounds, more than any one player had for Neshoba Central. In all, the Lady Rockets were out-rebounded 43-24, and Morris said Grayson’s size often proved too difficult against which to match up.

“It gives us a great disadvantage,” Morris said of going against Grayson. “All year, we’ve had trouble defending in the paint, and I knew going in if we didn’t do a good job defending in the paint, we’d be in trouble, because our defense gets our offense started, and if we can’t defend, get steals and push the ball up the floor, we suffer, because we’re not a good half-court team.”

Hattiesburg jumped out to a 12-6 lead after one quarter of play, and the Lady Tigers’ defense was able to limit Neshoba Central’s looks on offense for most of the second. The Lady Rockets tallied just one field goal in the second period, a layup by Hallie Billie with 15 seconds remaining, as Hattiesburg took a 24-11 lead into the half.

In the third quarter, Neshoba Central jumped out to a 5-0 start, but Hattiesburg responded by feeding Grayson inside, as she hit three field goals to help the Lady Tigers keep pace. Neshoba Central was able to cut Hattiesburg’s lead to 30-23 with 1:49 left in the third, but the Lady Tigers hit two more baskets and held onto a 34-25 advantage going into the final frame. 

In the fourth quarter, Hattiesburg used a 10-0 run to jump out to a 46-29 lead, and although Neshoba Central did score nine in the final 1:35, the Lady Tigers’ lead proved too much to overcome.

Morris said in addition to Hattiesburg’s size advantage, a lack of depth also hurt the Lady Rockets, especially late in the game.

“It’s tough playing that type of style and pressing when your bench is very thin,” Morris explained. “I knew they were tired playing five to seven players at the most and trying to press all over the floor. We just wore down, and when you’re tired, you don’t have legs to make shots. We fought and fought and fought, but today we came up short.”

The Lady Rockets returned just one starter from last year’s Class 5A championship team, junior Taylor Ben, who finished the game with six points. Carly Keats had a team-high nine points for Neshoba Central, while Billie chipped in with eight points.

Ben said the team set a good foundation going forward, even after struggling early in the year.

“It was very special,” Ben said of making it back to Jackson after last year’s state title season. “At the beginning of the season, we had a lot of road bumps. As the season went on, we tried to come together, and we finally found a really good combination with two eighth graders (Cori Keats and Hama’ya Fielder).”

Although the season ended two games sooner than Morris would have liked, he said he was proud of the overall effort of his club to make it back to Jackson, especially the last month of the season, in which Neshoba Central finished 5-2 and won the Region 3-5A tournament and made it back to the third round of the postseason.

“It’s about resilience, sacrifice and coming together when it actually counted,” Morris said. “It took time for this team to jell. We were very young and inexperienced, but as the season progressed, we just came together and kept fighting. Every day, I know they’re going to bring effort, and we just have to get in there and get back to work for next year.”

For Ben, the goal in 2019 is simple: make it back to the postseason and go even further than this year.

“(Today), we’ll start to get ready to come back to Jackson,” Ben said. “I think we’ll be better and stronger than we were this year.”

Neshoba Central finished the season with a 15-14 record.