JACKSON — Malaka Morris picked the right time to have the game of her life — in her first career start, no less.

Behind the play of Morris and a stiff defense, the Choctaw Central girls basketball team held on to beat Tishomingo County 56-49 to claim the MHSAA Class 4A state championship Thursday night at the Mississippi Coliseum.

It’s the Lady Warriors’ (29-4) eighth state championship in program history and first state title since 2018, after which Choctaw Central was moved up from Class 3A to 4A due to MHSAA realignment.

“We have a goal every year, and this is it, to win the goal ball,” Choctaw Central coach Bill Smith said. “We put in the game plan, and that was to slow down Tishomingo County, and it worked to perfection. I couldn’t have asked for any more from this team, and I couldn’t be more proud.”

The Lady Warriors also had to overcome being down two starters, as Kyla Farmer and Kylinn Bell both tore their ACLs in Monday’s semifinal game against Newton County. Replacing them were Morris and Jocelyn Bell. Morris had a game-high 20 points to lead Choctaw Central and was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.

“Morris played unbelievable,” Smith said. “Jocelyn Bell had her first career start, and she played tremendously well also. They came out and played within the game play we laid out, and it was just tremendous we were able to get (the gold ball).”

Choctaw Central never trailed throughout the game, and Tishomingo County had to play catch up. The Lady Warriors jumped out to a 10-4 advantage to begin the game and held a 16-9 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Tishomingo County went on a 9-2 run to begin the second quarter to tie the game at 18-18, but Choctaw Central went on a quick 5-0 run to regain the lead at 23-18 midway through. Tishomingo County then tied the game at 23 with just over two minutes left in the first half, but Choctaw Central went on an 8-1 run to end the second quarter and take a 31-24 lead into the break.

“That was big because I knew as long as we stayed ahead, we were going to be fine,” Smith said. “We boxed out, and they turned it over four times in a row, and we took advantage of that.”

The Lady Warriors opened the second half on a 7-2 run to extend their lead to 38-26. They closed the third quarter on an 8-2 run to go up 46-33 heading into the fourth quarter.

Late in the fourth quarter Tishomingo County cut Choctaw Central’s down to four points on two different occasions but could never gain the advantage. Taya Willis hit three out of four free throws in the final 28 seconds of the game to put the Lady Warriors up 56-49.

“All I told the girls at halftime was we need to win the next 16 minutes,” Smith said. “They didn’t panic when they cut it down to four and did what they to do to win.”

Said Morris, “This feels good because last year we lost in this game, and we didn’t want to finish second again. We just had to play defense and keep the lead.”

UT-Martin signee Clara Garland had 11 points and 10 rebounds to lead Tishomingo County (31-4). The Braves shot just 2-for-16 from 3-point range and 19-for-63 from the field.

“We had to play catch up the whole game, and their defensive game plan frustrated us,” Tishomingo County coach Brian Middleton said.