Early season challenges to help Lady Volunteers

There is a reason basketball coach Bruce Allsup scheduled some tough games early for the Starkville Academy Lady Volunteers.

After games against Madison-Ridgeland Academy, Parklane Academy and Pillow Academy so far, it’s a stretch that Allsup believes can make his Lady Vols tougher.

The first home game on Tuesday night against Pillow Academy may not have gone Starkville Academy’s way, a 50-48 loss, but Allsup liked the competitive spirit of his squad.

“Pillow is known for being one of the best basketball programs in the MAIS,” Allsup said. “For us to go against that pressure and that talent that they’ve got, I think our girls deserve a lot of credit. The good thing about our basketball team is we’re fairly young. We’ve got a lot of young players having to play a lot of minutes and I really believe our team is going to get better and better as the year goes along.”

The Lady Vols don’t get much younger than freshman Lillee Alpe, who led the way against the Lady Mustangs with 18 points. Junior Mary Peyton Passons hit a couple of late 3-point field goals to keep her team in the game and finished with 11 points and fellow junior Aubree Campbell chipped in 10 points.

Allsup was glad to see the future of Starkville Academy girls basketball perform against good competition.

“I’ve got some tough games scheduled early,” Allsup said. “I want them to be able to experience that and be put in the skillet and the fire. I was proud of my girls. They showed a lot of grit and made some big plays you don’t know you can make and they showed they could. I hate we lost and it hurts that we lost, but I’m looking on down the road and that was a good game for us.”

The Lady Vols have a 1-2 record going into tonight’s action at Choctaw County.

Passons said the growing process continues and she sees a difference from one outing to the next.

“With every game we’ve played, we’ve gotten better,” Passon said. “It takes time for all of us to move as one. I think with every game, it will happen and we’ll click like we need to.”