Short-handed Lady Vols fall in North AAA

COLUMBUS – Recent adversity has hurt the Starkville Academy Lady Volunteers in the short term, but it's revealed some things that has coach Bruce Allsup excited about the future.

After losing senior Aubree Campbell to an ankle injury last week and having to play without her in the last three games, Starkville Academy went into Saturday's AAA North State consolation game without one of its leading scorers in Mary Peyton Passons. In their loss, the Lady Vols had to have other players step up and they have.

While they got 16 points from Caroline Wood and Mari Laci Archer scored 15 on Saturday, North Delta wore the Lady Vols down and ultimately pulled away in a 78-58 game. The loss handed Starkville Academy the No. 4-seed in the North for the AAA State tournament next week.

“I think they really killed us on the boards," Allsup said. "We had two veteran seniors out and we rely on them to do some rebounding for us. Playing without two starters against that caliber team, I thought our girls played their hearts out. We just ran out of gas and they finished it off.”

Allsup thought there was a good possibility that Passons and Campbell could return to the team for the state tournament, but the lack of depth and experience was noted as the game went on.

Starkville Academy held its own for the better part of three quarters. The Lady Vols led 17-16 after a quarter led by Wood who has followed up some good recent performances with 10 points out of the gates on Saturday.

By halftime, Starkville Academy had taken that lead to 35-32 thanks to a 9-0 run late in the second to get control of the game.

That momentum continued into the third quarter for the Lady Vols as they jumped out to a 37-30 lead. It looked as if Starkville Academy was going to run away with the game, but North Delta took it back. The wheels fell off thanks to some offensive boards and missed shots and turnovers by the Lady Vols as North Delta took that seven-point deficit and went up 57-46 after three quarters.

All total, it was a 27-9 run that erased that Lady Vol lead and it was enough to nail the knock out punch.

Even in defeat, Allsup counted the game as a success. His young players got a chance to improve with Wood and Archer leading the way.

“There's no doubt that their progression has been really good for us," Allsup said. "We've been relying so much on guard play and perimeter shooting. For them to be able to step up and get us some points is going to take some pressure off of our guards. We started four sophomores and a junior (Saturday) so our upside is really good.”

Lillee Alpe was also in double figures for the Lady Vols as their leading scorer put up 13 points.

Starkville Academy now heads back to Leake Academy for the AAA State Tournament. The Lady Vols will take on the No. 1 seed from the South next week.