Lady Wolverines punch ticket to semis
East Webster girls basketball players celebrate Wednesday’s win over Baldwyn in the quarrterfinals of the Class 2A State Tournament at Mississippi Valley State. (Photo by Kylee Mcminn, for Starkville Daily News)
ITTA BENA – Wednesday night was one of the biggest games for East Webster girls basketball since the team won a state championship back in 2014-15.
That was the last time that the Lady Wolverines had taken a team to the Class 2A State semifinals and the first trip to Jackson's Mississippi Coliseum since 2016-17 was on the line. The Wolverine faithful traveled down Highway 82 to the campus of Mississippi Valley State to cheer on their East Webster against Baldwyn in the third round of the playoffs and coach Courtney O'briantwright knew that defense was going to have to be the answer.
Facing a Lady Bearcat team that had beaten its first two playoff opponents by a combined 120-44, it was the Lady Wolverines that would set the tone. East Webster dominated the paint on both ends and built a lead steadily on the way to an impressive 54-38 win that punched a ticket to the semifinals.
“I thank God above for these girls,” O'briant-wright said. “I told them from the getgo that they've got to display the God-given talent that he gave them and they've got to use them from beginning to the end. Our emphasis was to slow them down and we knew that we had to shut down the paint and that's exactly what we did.”
The Lady Wolverines' size in the post with Shameriah Culpepper and Yasmine Roberts was an issue for a Baldwyn team that was built around penetrating the paint and scoring. East Webster was able to get points at the free-throw line at times, but the Lady Bearcats really struggled to get the job done from the field.
While the two bigs were a formidable force in the post, the point guard again was the one that stirred the drink. This week's OCH Regional Medical Center Athlete of the Week Da'nasia Logan set the tone with her defense, her passing and her offensive game.
Logan finished with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting and had a 3-for-4 night at the line. She's now averaged 19.3 points a game in three games in the playoffs and is playing her best basketball. Setting the tone early was the key for her and her teammates.
“We knew that they were going to bring the defense,” Logan said. “That's one of the hardest defenses we've seen all year and it was man-to-man. Everyone has been playing us zone this year because they know that we can't shoot 3s. They didn't have an answer for Shameriah. She dominated.”
Culpepper had 16 points herself and got things started in a big way in the second quarter. She had 13 points in the first half and had 11 of those in the second quarter as the Lady Wolverines took a relatively close game in started to pull away.
East Webster had a 10-5 lead early but fell behind at 1110 on back-to-back 3-pointers. It was a 5-0 run that ended the quarter that got the Lady
Wolverines going and they led 28-20 at halftime.
The third quarter was where real separation began. East Webster's defense started to slowly wear on the Lady Bearcats and that lead grew to 34-23 on a Logan bucket with 5 minutes left. It went back and forth from single to double digits before the Lady Wolverines got a 41-28 lead that ended the quarter and that was the end for Baldwyn.
The victory improved East Webster to 23-10 for the season and the Lady Wolverines are now in position to have a special finish. They secured a spot as one of the
last four teams in 2A and will play at “The Big House” next Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. against the winner of Heidelberg and Velma Jackson.
O'briant-wright is taking her team against whoever she sees at this point.
“I couldn't ask for better leadership from Shameriah Culpepper and Da'nasia Logan on the court along with Nekendra, Madeline (Warn) and my eighth grader Yasmine Roberts for stepping up,” O'briant-wright said. “I'm proud of the whole team as a whole.”