For the second time this season, winter weather has thrown a wrench into the way of basketball in Marion County as all four girls basketball teams couldn’t play Tuesday night.
Columbia Academy
Columbia Academy (13-8) has had to play a series of talented teams over the past few weeks and beat one of the better opponents its faced in Lamar Christian (20-4) last Friday night, 42-29.
Morgan Jones led the Lady Cougars with 21 points, while Lauren Rowley got hot as well, particularly in the first half, and finished with 17 points, but their defense made the biggest impact.
Columbia Academy’s improved defense helped the Lady Cougars beat Parklane Academy (14-8) 32-22 the following night as well.
“Lamar Christian, The Clarion-Ledger had them ranked as the No. 1 team in (MAIS) AA. Lamar Christian has been doing a lot of winning. I thought Gabby (Sullivan) did a great job of containing (Rebekah Engle, who had seven points), and our defense has just gotten much better,” head coach Dale Watts said. “Our offense is getting better, but we’re still not where we need to be because I’m having to play some people out of their natural position where they would probably be best. For our team, I’ve got to put them in different places. Lauren would (benefit) if I could move her off of point guard and put her at shooting guard, but I can’t do that, especially against tough teams. Our defense has really, really picked up though. I’ve always believed and live by ‘defense wins championships.’ Both nights, against Lamar Christian being able to contain (Engle) and (Catherine Hannabass) — those were their big go-to people — against Parklane, (Lana Monk) and (Allye Byrd) we were able to contain them enough.”
Rowley paced the Lady Cougars with 11 points against Parklane, and Macey Jones contributed eight points in the 10-point home win.
“Parklane is a very quality AAAA team as well, so I thought our girls played really well,” Watts said. “We were behind at half, but we came back out and drew up a couple of switch hitters. We ran some plays there, and Lauren hit a three-point shot, then we ran another one and got another three-point shot. That’s another thing, it’s been difficult for these girls with the offensive structure I try to do and the defensive structure. It’s really coming around, though.”
The Lady Cougars were scheduled to play Salem on the road Tuesday night, but it was rescheduled for Thursday, then cancelled altogether as the icy roads failed to improve. They played Sumrall at home Friday night (results unavailable at press time) and will play at Centreville Academy Saturday night at 5.
Columbia
The Lady Wildcats (8-7) played just one game over the past week with the inclement weather resulting in the rescheduling of Tuesday night’s matchup with Tylertown to Jan. 27.
They definitely impressed in their lone outing, though, besting Wesson 47-11 and even held the Lady Cobras scoreless throughout the entire first half.
“We extended a little bit and opened up in a 2-2-1 three-quarter court pressure that gave them some trouble, and we were just fortunate enough to get ahead early and keep going,” head coach Charlie James said. “We just got after them pretty good, and they just couldn’t overcome the initial shock of it.”
Tyra Conerly led the Lady Wildcats with 11 points, followed by Demetryana Averett, who took all nine of her shots from behind the arc and made three of them for nine points. Jaleel Hartfield was held to just four points, her lowest total since scoring two points in last year’s season opening loss to Oak Grove, but she tied for the team lead with five rebounds and had four steals.
Columbia played Seminary Friday night (results unavailable) at home and will host West Marion Tuesday at 6 p.m.
West Marion
Last Friday night, the Lady Trojans (3-13, 0-4) were in Bassfield to take on Jefferson Davis County but lost 70-37.
Shania Jefferson led the way with 11 points, 11 rebounds, three steals and two blocks, while Keatra Harvey added 11 points and two blocks and Hannah Miller had nine points.
West Marion was scheduled to host Loyd Star Tuesday night, but due to the weather and the upcoming schedules of both teams the game might not be played.
“As of right now, it’s been cancelled,” head coach Steven Fortenberry said. “They have district games Tuesday and Friday, and we do, too. It’s kind of up in the air whether we will play that one or not.”
Fortenberry said West Marion’s biggest issue this season has been playing well on a consistent basis.
“We’ll put a quarter together and look really good, then the next two quarters we’ll turn the ball over, not make a pass or make a pass when we shouldn’t make a pass,” he said. “We’re just not doing team-oriented stuff (consistently).”
Since wins have been difficult to come by, the Lady Trojans main goal the rest of the season is to simply compete.
“We preach about that every ball game. Not to worry about what the scoreboard says but find little victories,” Fortenberry said. “If we can have a quarter where we have more assists than turnovers or make more than half of our free throws, we try to set those goals that are obtainable.”
The Lady Trojans played Wesson on the road (results unavailable) and will play Columbia Tuesday.
East Marion
East Marion (8-7, 2-0) made the long trek to Pascagoula last Friday night to take on Resurrection Catholic, making the most of it with a 73-11 blowout victory.
The Lady Eagles held Resurrection to two, six, three and zero points each quarter, respectively. Lia Smith led East Marion with 13 points, while Tytianna Porter, who also had seven rebounds, four assists and three steals, and Amber Willis were right behind Smith with 12 points each. Azariyah Magee contributed with 10 points and five assists to round out the effort.
The Lady Eagles were scheduled to play Sacred Heart on the road Tuesday night, but the game was rescheduled for Jan. 25. They played Salem Friday night at home (results unavailable) and will host Stone County Tuesday night at 6.
Pictured Above: Columbia Academy’s Lauren Rowley finishes in traffic at home. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
