Lady Jackets overcome slow start to win easily over Lady Green Wave
It wasn't quite the effort that Starkville High School girls basketball coach Kristie Williams wanted to see out of her team for most of the first half.
The rival West Point Lady Green Wave had come to town on Thursday night and stayed within striking distance of the defending Class 6A State champions.
As the Lady Green Wave only trailed the Lady Jackets 21-15 at the end of the first quarter and knocked the margin back to 11 points at 36-25 with 3:15 remaining in the first half, Williams felt the need to get the attention of her players.
Starkville went on a 13-0 to close the first half to take a 49-25 advantage and went on to an easy 77-40 win.
Even though the final result was what Williams wanted, the start still concerned her.
"I'm still going to be nit-picky about us not getting out as strong as I wanted us to," Williams said. "We can't continue to wait. We've got to come out with more energy to start the game if we expect to have a good regular season leading to playoffs.
"That's something they've just got to get into their minds and be disciplined enough to know that if you don't start out the way we expect you to, you are going to have some rough games. In the last couple of games, we've been able to get away with it, but you can't continue to do that."
Jalisa Outlaw hit the first two baskets of the game to get the Lady Jackets going. She finished the first half with 20 points and had 23 points at the end of the game.
Williams was pleased with Outlaw's offensive game, but wants her to sharpen up her defense as her junior season progresses.
"We expect her to make big shots, but we also want her to get better on her defense as well," Williams said. "She's got to become that true all around player."
Senior guard Tabreea Gandy was the other SHS player to score in double digits with 14 points.
Outlaw scored most of her points from the outside, while Gandy drove the lane to get several layups inside.
"We shared the ball," Outlaw said about what opened things up on offense. "We found open shots and knocked them down."
Arresta Davis was the leading scorer for West Point with 15 points.
The Lady Jackets improved their record to 4-0 and will play again on Saturday at the Neshoba Central Classic. The opponent will be Choctaw Central at noon.