Starkville Christian opens with victories
It took the Starkville Christian School Lady Cougars some time to get going, but once they did, it produced an impressive result.
After establishing a halftime lead, the Lady Cougars outscored the Laurel Home School Lady Hawks 21-4 in the second half to gain an easy 35-10 victory in the season opener Tuesday night.
"It took us a little while to get started and get some of the cobwebs off," Starkville Christian basketball coach Luke Buckner said. "Once we started running the offense, we started getting layups and that's what we needed."
The Lady Hawks scored the first basket of the game and hit again to hold a 4-2 lead, but that was the only time the visitors had the advantage.
Mary Driskell scored to tie the game at 4-4, then Tanner Smith sank a pair of free throws to give the Lady Cougars the lead at 6-4 after the first quarter.
Laurel tied the game early in the second quarter, then Starkville Christian went on an 8-0 run for the rest of the quarter to take a 14-6 advantage into the halftime intermission.
The Lady Hawks were held scoreless for the majority of the second quarter and the entire third quarter by the Lady Cougars.
Baskets by Rebekah Lane, Olivia Moore and Smith stretched the margin out to 20-6 after three quarters.
Starkville Christian finished strong by outscoring Laurel 15-4 in the fourth quarter.
Carley Wells was the only Lady Cougars to score in double figures with 10 points, while Smith added eight point sand Kristina Eaves chipped in seven points.
Smith is only an eighth grader and Driskell is a freshman, so Buckner knows he has a young girls team.
He likes the potential there.
"We only have three true varsity players, but we have a bright future if we can keep it up," Buckner said.
Starkville Christian also won the junior varsity girls game 24-12 behind the nine points of Moore.
Boys Game Starkville Christian 58 Laurel Home School 40
Stephen Lane had an emphatic start to his senior season with his first-ever dunk and led the Cougars with 16 points in the win over the Hawks.
Starkville Christian scored the first seven points of the game as Will Lindner had a 3-point play and another basket, then Drew Latham hit a basket for a 7-0 lead, then Laurel scored the next five points to cut the margin to 7-5.
Another basket by Lindner and one by Lane gave the Cougars an 11-5 advantage, but the Hawks got to within 11-7 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the two teams exchanged scores early, then Starkville Christian's Sam Fairley offset a pair of Laurel free throws with a 3-point field goal and another basket to give the Cougars a 23-12 lead at the half.
Along with Lane's scoring for the Cougars, Lindner added 13 points and Isaac Buckner had 10 points.
"We've got a lot of seniors this year," coach Buckner said of his boys team. "I have high hopes and they like to work hard, so there is no telling what can happen."
Starkville Christian lost the junior varsity boys game 26-22 to Laurel. Eigen Ballard had nine points for the Cougars.