A resurrection has taken place for the Lady Trojans, who already have more wins this year than they have in the past six seasons, but there still is a lot of room for growth.
West Marion (7-6, 1-2) lost to Crystal Springs 77-42 Dec. 27 in the Wesson Christmas Tournament before beating Port Gibson 48-29 the following night. Head coach Steven Fortenberry said he liked the way West Marion battled in the tournament, and he believes it could pay off down the stretch.
“Crystal Springs is one of the premier 3A teams in the south, them and Tylertown. They have a lot of players who can shoot, and they got ahead of us early and it snowballed. To my girls credit they kept fighting,” he said. “Port Gipson was another good experience. They have some athletes, but they just couldn’t shoot the outside shot.”
Returning to the court on Tuesday, though, West Marion couldn’t quite keep pace with defending Region 8-3A champ Tylertown (7-2) in a 73-39 loss.
“We were tied with them at the end of the first quarter and had a lead on them in the second quarter, but their athleticism is at another level from ours,” Fortenberry said. “We were down nine at half and lost by almost 40.”
Fortenberry added in his five years at West Marion, the Lady Trojans have never come close to competing with Tylertown, but for a half Tuesday night they did just that. He said conditioning was an issue after 10 days off, while Tylertown played two tournaments over the holiday break.
Raven Jones led the charge for West Marion with 16 points, while Hannah Miller and Olivia Miller each had seven.
The Lady Trojans went on the road Friday night to take on Jeff Davis County (10-7, 1-1), but results were unavailable at press time. West Marion has a makeup game Thursday at Purvis, who is 16-1 in Class 4A, and Fortenberry said it will be another tough test similar to Tylertown. The Lady Trojans will stay on the road Friday when they go to Bay St. Louis to face Our Lady Academy (0-12, 0-2).
Tylertown and Jeff Davis will likely be the top two seeds for the Region 8-3A tournament in mid-February, earning a first-round bye and clinching an automatic playoff berth. The final two playoffs spots will be up for grabs, and Fortenberry said he wants to go in as the No. 3 seed so West Marion takes on OLA, who is expected to be the last seed. As the fourth or fifth-seed, the Lady Trojans would have to beat Columbia or Seminary in the tournament to go to the playoffs.
“We don’t want to look too far ahead, but the week after next when we play Columbia (Jan. 21) that’s going to be a big game in the seeding for the district tournament. Seeding is a big thing in the district with who you have to beat to actually make the playoffs,” he said. “I think us, Columbia and Seminary are not far off between one another.”
Pictured Above: West Marion's Hannah Miller drains a tough mid-ranger jumper. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
