One season removed from going winless in eight Region 4-4A games, Kosciusko clinched the No. 1 seed for the upcoming Region 4-4A tournament with its 62-59 win against Leake Central last Tuesday.
The Whippets capped their region slate of games with a 7-1 record, and as the No. 1 seed, will have a first-round bye. Kosciusko will play the winner of Tuesday’s Leake Central-Noxubee County contest on Thursday.
Kosciusko finished the regular season with a 21-6 overall record.
This is a huge accomplishment, considering we didn’t win a game in the district last year, and you turn around and beat the No. 1 seed in the district the next year,” Kosciusko coach Eleazarus Greenleaf said. “I give all of the credit to the players. They came in this summer and they worked hard; they practiced hard and worked their butts off. They were determined to be successful this year and play as a team and as a group, and they played for each other more than anything. I give all the credit to those guys. They worked really hard, and they deserved it.”
The Whippets defeated French Camp Academy 76-52 last Thursday. Kosciusko led 22-6 at the end of the first quarter and 42-23 at halftime. The Whippets scored 17 points in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
With the regular season behind them, Kosciusko will have a six-day rest before it faces either the Gators or Wildcats in the region tournament. Greenleaf said his team will use the extended break to refine a few areas of its game before it embarks on its postseason stretch.
“We played French Camp on Thursday for senior night, and we had a great crowd,” Greenleaf said. “We played really well. There were some things that I saw, by having this long layoff, so to speak, since we don’t play Tuesday, kind of correct those things that I saw that we need to correct going into the district tournament.”
“It’s very important,” Greenleaf said.
GIRLS
The Lady Whippets dropped a 60-31 contest against Leake Central on Tuesday, but they were able to grab a 58-46 win on senior night against French Camp Academy to send them into the Region 4-4A tournament with the momentum of the victory.
“It’s always a good boost going into a district tournament with a win,” Kosciusko coach Cory Guyton said. “It was especially special for the seniors. It was their last regular-season home game. For motivational purposes, I think they are trying to come together after the injuries and (with) moving people around at different spots. We’re kind of finding that niche of who will go where with the injuries, so I look forward to seeing what we can do in the tournament.”
Against Leake Central, Katie Mitchell scored a team-high seven points. Mikhayla Vaughn added a team-high four assists and four steals.
Diamond Rayford posted 20 points in the Lady Whippets’ 58-46 win against French Camp Academy last Friday. Ariel Fleming contributed 15 points.
Kosciusko (12-16, 3-5) enters the region tournament as the No. 4 seed, and it draws Noxubee County on Tuesday. The Lady Whippets went 2-0 against the Lady Tigers during the regular season, but Guyton is not putting too much stock in those contest results in terms of his team’s chances for a third consecutive win.
“Sometimes it’s just hard to play a team three times — they’ll figure out what you’re doing,” he said. “It kind of gets to you, so you have to make sure you execute perfectly and stuff like that. The first time we beat them, the second time they cut it down a little closer. We have to maintain our level of energy for the whole four quarters, but I think we’ll be fine if we can do that.”
