The Columbia High and East Marion basketball programs started their seasons over the past week and faced some adversity.
Columbia Academy begins its season Thursday night at Salem, and West Marion begins on Tuesday against Loyd Star.
After reaching the Final Four last season, the East Marion Lady Eagles (1-0) picked up where they left off with a 45-28 win over St. Joseph Catholic in the Pearl Tip-Off Classic Saturday.
Tytianna Porter was active on both ends of the floor with 15 points, five rebounds and five steals, as was Lia Smith with 12 points, eight rebounds and two assists. Both shot 5-of-8 from the field.
“We wanted to see where we’re starting from to get a feel for what it’s going to take for us to max out our potential,” head coach Calvin Brown said. “I think we have a chance to be pretty balanced with what Ty can do inside then some of our perimeter players are maturing.”
The boys squad, which reached the Elite Eight last year, didn’t fare quite as well with a 71-52 loss to Terry but is still missing several rotational players from football. The Eagles were without Caleb Rawls, though Vashon Sims and John Rawls each had 16 points.
“Some young people got some experience under the lights. Some people that have never been in that situation before, and it gave them a snapshot of what it really looked like with real game pressure,” Brown said. “I was very pleased with Cameron Walker, Evin Beach and Nicholas Beach; those three got some really, really valuable experience. We’ll see how that carries over.”
East Marion is set to host Stone Thursday night, with the Lady Eagles tipping off at 6 and the Eagles at 7:30.
The Columbia Lady Wildcats (0-1) are having to replace their top two players from the past few seasons in Jaleel Hartfield and Tyra Conerly, and it showed late in their season-opening loss to Oak Grove 50-40 at home Nov. 1. They were outscored 12-6 in the fourth quarter and had several avoidable and costly turnovers down the stretch.
“We competed actually better than I was anticipating, but we did have some crucial turnovers not just from pressing but throughout the game,” head coach Charlie James said. “We’d get it down to two or three points here and there, then we’d have mental lapses that we have to really improve on. I thought our defensive intensity, at times, cost us as well.”
Jasmine Sheppard stepped into the forefront in Conerly’s place with 21 points, four rebounds and two steals, while Christina James added 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
The Wildcats (0-1) also had some trouble replacing key players in a 67-37 loss to Oak Grove but will get most of them back once football season ends. James said he thought the young squad competed well and got its feet wet at the varsity level.
“The lack of experience got to us coming out in the second half when they put the pressure on,” he said. “Overall, I thought we competed well. We played a couple of young guys that gained some valuable experience. Down the stretch they kind of overwhelmed us and wore us down a little bit.”
Senior TJ Monroe, who led Marion County with 21.2 points per game a year ago and has drawn some interest from junior colleges, struggled to find a rhythm and had nine points on 30 percent shooting and eight rebounds.
“TJ was pressing a little much and didn’t let the game come to him. He was rushing and trying to overcompensate for us missing some of the guys,” James said. “I think if we settle down, be patient and trust our teammates a little more I think we’ll fare much better.”
The Wildcats did get some production from another senior who wasn’t with the team last season in center Tykelvis Wright. He had 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting, five boards and two blocks. Columbia played at South Jones Tuesday night (results unavailable at press time) and will host Mendenhall Thursday night, beginning at 6.
Pictured Above: Columbia shooting guard TJ Monroe drives to the rim against Oak Grove. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
