The Whippets opened Region 4-4A play with a 59-50 home win against Choctaw Central on Tuesday.
A pair of Kosciusko (13-3, 1-0 Region 4-4A) players scored in double-figures as Eshavious Mays and JaQuan Hall tallied 15 and 11 points, respectively. Mays shot 55.6 percent from the field while Hall was 57.1 percent.
“I think it was a good win coming off the Christmas break, being that we hadn’t played in about three weeks,” Kosciusko coach Eleazarus Greenleaf said. “We spent a lot of time preparing for Choctaw Central. They’re a really, really good ball club. I think we played hard defensively. Our shots didn’t fall all the way, but we kept rebounding and kept playing defense and kept hustling. Those were the things that helped up get the victory.”
Kosciusko was 13-of-26 from the free throw line.
The Whippets’ defense held the Warriors to just four points in the first quarter and Kosciusko took an 11-4 lead into the second quarter. Choctaw Central (12-6, 0-1 Region 4-4A) outscored the Whippets in the second quarter, but the Whippets led 24-20 at the break. The Whippets outscored the Warriors 17-14 in the third quarter.
The win stretched Kosciusko’s win streak to five games.
The threat of inclement weather forced the Whippets to postpone their game on Friday against Louisville, and Saturday’s game against J.Z. George was canceled.
Northeast Lauderdale (4-11, 1-1 Region 4-4A) was set to Kosciusko on Tuesday. The Whippets travel to West Lauderdale (4-14, 0-2 Region 4-4A) on Friday and Noxubee County (8-8) on Saturday.
GIRLS
Kosciusko saw its eight-game win streak snapped on Tuesday with a 66-41 loss to Region 4-4A newcomer Choctaw Central.
The loss drops the Lady Whippets to 12-3 overall and 0-1 in the Region 4-4A standings.
“I thought we started out a little nervous and a little flat,” Kosciusko girls coach Cory Guyton said. “After the first couple of minutes we kind of got back into the flow of it, but we ran out of gas at the end. It was a good test for us. We have a lot of things we have to work on, so it was an eye-opener for us.”
Jakrya Young scored a team-high 16 points and was 6-of-19 (31.6 percent) from the floor. Young collected another team-leading seven rebounds to go with one steal. Aaliyah Amey and Ariel Fleming finished with seven points apiece. Amey also tallied five rebounds and two assists, while Fleming added two assists and two steals.
Choctaw Central (14-2, 1-0 Region 4-4A) led by as many as 26 points.
The Lady Warriors held a 22-10 advantage through the end of the first quarter and upped their lead to 39-24 at the half. Choctaw Central outscored Kosciusko 21-11 in the third quarter.
Kosciusko shot 14-of-43 (32.6 percent) from the floor.
