O'Corya Forrest’s team-leading 22 points and Terry Skinner's late-game free throws helped lift Kosciusko (21-6) to a 66-64 win over New Hope last Friday in the Region 4-4A tournament third-place game.
n last Thursday’s tournament opener, Kosciusko trailed Leake Central by just one point with 15 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Gators pulled out a 75-70 victory to send the Whippets to the consolation game.
Antonio Harmon finished with a team-high 22 points against Leake Central, while Skinner added 19 and Forest ended with 12.
The trio of Harmon, Skinner and Forest earned high praise from Kosciusko coach Eleazarus Greenleaf.
“O’Corya Forrest, Antonio Harmon and Terry Skinner have been playing really well since we started district play,” Greenleaf said. “Antonio has been doing a good job of rebounding and running up the floor; O’Corya and Skinner have been doing a good job of knocking down open shots. Skinner has been attacking the basket more and playing point guard later in the game and getting everybody involved in the game.”
Kosciusko was set to travel to Gentry Tuesday for their MHSAA Class 4A postseason opener. Gentry boasts a 23-7 overall record.
“They feed off their man-to-man, full-court-pressure defense,” Greenleaf said. “If we can handle their man-to-man, full-court-pressure defense, we’ll be in pretty good shape. We’ve just been working on trying to prepare for that.”
GIRLS
Ariel Fleming single-handedly did her best to keep Kosciusko in its Region 4-4A tournament opener against Noxubee County last Tuesday, but the freshman’s 23-point effort was not enough as the Lady Whippets fell 48-45 to the Lady Tigers, ending the Kosciusko season.
Diamond Rayford scored nine points to go with seven rebounds. Katie Mitchell added four steals and four points.
“I guess we kind of put ourselves in a predicament where we turned around and got the fourth seed, but it shouldn't have been anything that we couldn’t have overcome,Kosciusko coach Cory Guyton said. “Just due to injuries and a little inexperience, we kind of got a lack of focus right at the end. We started off pretty well, but hats off to Noxubee County – they fought hard. Our girls played hard, too. But just the youth we had on the floor, and in a tight ball game, not ever being in that situation before and not knowing how to respond to it hurt us down the road. But overall, I thought they did well.”
The Lady Whippets finished the year at 12-17. With just three seniors on this year’s roster, first-year coach Guyton is optimistic Kosciusko will take a step forward next season.
“I thought we had a good season, although it could have been better,” Guyton said. “We have a lot of things we have to work on, and we’ll start that immediately. We’ll get in there and start working out – trying to improve our defense. We’ll have a little bit more experience because everyone will know what to expect. I look forward to the future… I thought we had a successful season; we went from three wins to 12 wins. We had a lot of parental support. I thank the girls for opening up to me and helping me lead this team. I want to thank the Kosciusko School District and community for accepting me and allowing me to come in and coach these young ladies.”
