A tough week for the Kosciusko girls’ basketball team with two losses in Region 4-4A games ended on a high note with a victory over Starkville. The Lady Whippets were edged by Leake Central 45-43 and lost to Choctaw Central 53-32 before defeating Starkville, a 6A team, 44-37.
Kosciusko had a chance to win the Leake Central game but turned the ball over in the final seconds. “We made a lot of mistakes offensively and defensively. We shot ourselves in the foot,” said Coach Cory Guyton
The miscues included 20 off target free throws.
Jakayla Seawood had 10 points and five rebounds for Kosciusko, Mariah Woods nine points and eight rebounds and Aaliyah Amey nine points and seven rebounds
Turnovers were again a problem against Choctaw Central.
“We have to minimize our mistakes,” Guyton said.
Williams had 12 points and three rebounds, Amey eight points and 10 rebounds.
Choctaw Central, a long-time power in the sport, is ranked third in the state for 4A teams by the website MaxPreps and is undefeated in region play.
Kosciusko played Starkville at the Mid Mississippi Classic hosted by Choctaw County.
Guyton said his players were down after the Choctaw Central game.
“They rallied with each other,” he said. “They did a good job coming together.”
The game was close most of the way until Kosciusko was able to pull away late. Balanced scoring included 11 points each by Bracie Jamison and Jamyia Gray and eight each by Williams and Seawood. Williams had nine rebounds, Seawood and Jamison five each and Gray had four.
The Lady Whippets played Louisville Tuesday and will be at Northeast Lauderdale Friday. In earlier games, Kosciusko defeated Northeast 75-49, but lost to Louisville 55-46.
The Lady Whippets entered those games with a 15-7 record, but 2-4 region play.
“If we play consistently, I feel like we can be one of the top teams in the district,” Guyton said. “If we let our defense be our offense, we will be fine.”
Below, Khameron Harvey drives through defenders to get the ball to the net. Kevin Brunt / The Star-Herald
Boys
The Whippets were defeated by Leake Central 54-38 and had to forfeit the Choctaw Central game because eight players were quarantined.
Kosciusko led Leake Central by one at the half, but the Gators pulled away in the second half.
“We did everything we needed to do defensively. We had a good defensive game plan.” said coach Eleazarus Greenleaf. “In the third quarter things started to go down for us. We played well defensively but had scoring droughts.”
The Whippets were missing one starter who was quarantined.
Davion Roby had 14 points, Jerremy Wickham and Khameron Harvey eight each.
The Whippets were unable to participate in the Mid Mississippi Classic because of the quarantine. It ended Sunday and Greenleaf expected to have a full team when Kosciusko played Louisville Tuesday.
