Winners of four of their last five games, the Columbia Lady Wildcats (10-7, 4-1) have put themselves right in the thick of things in the Class 3A Region 8 standings.
While the Lady Wildcats have been winning, head coach Charlie James believes they still have a lot of untapped potential ahead of them.
“The girls have been playing OK. I still think there’s a lot of room for improvement for those girls. If they would take that and move forward, I think they have a shot to be really competitive,” he said. “Getting off to sluggish starts and playing (up and down) to the competition has haunted them. We, as a coaching staff and as a team, need to really do a better job from start to finish and get after it from early on so you don’t put yourself in those situations late. They’re still a work in progress, but we could see some really great things if they put it all together.”
Columbia got off to a bit of a slow start Friday night after not being in the gym for three days but picked up the intensity to cruise to a 50-30 win over Seminary in its home gym.
Tyra Conerly led the Lady Wildcats with 19 points, drilling a couple shots from deep, while Jasmine Sheppard continued her ascent with 14 points and Cortaysja Robinson added seven points.
Jaleel Hartfield had scored in double figures in eight of the Lady Wildcats’ first 12 games and didn’t have fewer than eight points, but she has seen her scoring numbers plummet as of late, averaging just 4.8 points over her last four games and scoring just two points on a pair of free throws against Seminary.
“She has not played her best basketball of late. She has struggled a little bit and a lot of it has been not being completely focused at times,” James said. “Once she gets her focus back and really digs in, you’ll see Jaleel come back to form. There have been other girls step up in that absence. Tyra has really played well for us and Jasmine has played well, and so have some young girls. If we can get (Hartfield) back to her normal self with the improvement of the other girls, we’ll really be a scary team.”
The Lady Wildcats hosted West Marion Tuesday night, winning 54-43. They will head to Bassfield Friday night to take on Jefferson Davis County and Tylertown Saturday. Tipoff for both games is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Pictured Above: Jaleel Hartfield throws a cross-court pass against Seminary. | Photo by Joshua Campbell
