By By Chris Whitaker
staff writer
In a game of spurts, the West Lauderdale Lady Knights held off a second half rally to beat the Southeast Lauderdale Lady Tigers 51-40 in Friday's Pool 1 match-up at MCC's Ivy Sports Center.
J. J. Huggins attacked the Lady Tiger defense the entire game, managing to score 10 points.
With the win, West Lauderdale moves to 2-0 in Pool I of the State Games of Mississippi. Southeast Lauderdale falls to 1-2.
West Lauderdale jumped out to an early 16-2 lead in the first six minutes of the game with good ball movement and poor shooting by Southeast Lauderdale. The lead was stretched to 17 at the half with West Lauderdale on top 30-13.
Kristina Gardner led the Lady Knights with eight points at the half followed by J. J. Huggins with seven. Southeast Lauderdale was led by Stacy Tate with five points.
Southeast Lauderdale opened the second half on a 14-4 run in the first 5 1/2 minutes to close the deficit to 34-27. Ree Newell scored nine in the run, all on three pointers. That would be as close as the Lady Tigers would get as the Lady Knights pushed the lead back out to 16 at 48-32 with 3:50 left in the game.
Southeast Lauderdale answered with an 8-0 run of their own, making it 48-40 with three minutes left on two three pointers by Lashondra Hall. That would be it for Southeast Lauderdale who ran out of energy and time.
Newell scored all of her 11 points in the second half before fouling out with 15 seconds left.
As a team, West Lauderdale was 7-of-18 from the free throw line and Southeast Lauderdale was 5-of-14.
Starkville boys 74
West Lauderdale 61
Travis Outlaw scored 34 for the Starkville Yellowjackets, stinging the West Lauderdale Knights 74-61.
The 6-foot-9 Dandy Dozen senior scored everywhere behind the arc, inside the paint and the free throw line.
Outlaw, who earlier Friday morning, committed to play for Mississippi State, electrified the crowd and brought it to its feet with his monster dunks.
The loss dropped West Lauderdale to 1-1 in the tournament while it was Starkville's opening game.
Outlaw opened the game nailing a 3-pointer and finished with six for the game. Starkville jumped out to a 11-0 lead before West Lauderdale got on the board at the 9:59 mark.
The Knights began a full-court press that the Yellowjackets broke easily, resulting in an Outlaw dunk. Outlaw had a battle of his own with West Lauderdale's Calvin Moore, who took him inside battling for position. Moore scored 10 in the first half to lead the Knights who trailed 31-22 at the break.
West Lauderdale opened the half in a full-court trap forcing Starkville into losing the ball and throwing it away. Outlaw got a rebound and a dunk off a teammate's miss in the first minutes of the second half, extending the lead to 11.
Boo Ramsey connected on an arching 3-pointer to cut the Starkville lead to five, 43-38 at the 8:27 mark. Back and forth exchanging baskets, West Lauderdale got to within three at the 7:13 mark before Starkville took control.
The Yellowjackets began to play keep away with four minutes left in the game. Outlaw took his man one-on-one and finished with a one hand slam making it 62-50, throwing the crowd into a frenzy.