The Lady Hornets defeated the West Bolivar Lady Eagles 56-50 and the Eagles defeated the Broad Street Jaguars 46-33.
"It was a complete team effort for us tonight," said Linda Allen, head coach for JFK. We started out a little slow, but we kept fighting and fighting. We could not have done this without the young coaches that help us out and Coach Floyd who has been with us, but could not be here tonight. The girls wanted to win this for him."
With the win the Lady Hornets claimed the No. 1 seed and will host the Hamilton Lady Lions at 7 p.m. Monday in Mound Bayou. The Lady Eagles will host the Hatley Lady Tigers at 7 p.m. Monday in Rosedale.
The Eagles will face the Hamilton Lions and the Broad Street Jaguars will host the Okolona Chieftains. Both games are set for 7 p.m. Tuesday.
The Lady Eagles and Lady Hornets played what was the best game of the night as they battled tough throughout the contest all the way to the final buzzer.
West Bolivar opened the contest with a 13-2 lead. The Lady Hornets came out the gate a bit nervous and fell behind 15-6 headed into the second quarter.
In the second quarter JFK senior guard Shermicka Fields went to work scoring back-to-back baskets for a 15-10 game. West Bolivar's Latonya Gaddison scored on a short jump-shot in the lane for a 17-10 game, but Fields resounded with another basket and Jarvis Malone followed with five straight points for the Lady Hornets to tie the game at 17-17 with 5:00 remaining in the first half.
"Tonight Meka came out aggressive. The young coaches had been telling her that she is a senior and she had to go out and play like it. She had been in a slump, but she broke out of that. She is the coach on the floor and she did a great job tonight," said Coach Allen.
Both teams continued to trade baskets, until the Lady Hornets took the lead for good in the half as Frederica Haywood, Ieysha Mays and Fields closed out the quarter outscoring the Lady Eagles 10-3 to take a 32-26 lead into the locker room at the break.
In the third quarter the Lady Eagles took control of the game outscoring the Lady Hornets 14-5 for a 40-37 lead going into the final quarter. Of those 14 points, Gaddison scored nine of them to lead the Lady Eagles.
With 4:16 left in the game both teams were tied at 44-44. A basket from West Bolivar's Breunna Faust and another from Kalesha Williams gave the Lady Eagles a 48-44 lead with under 3:00 minutes remaining.
Just when things started to slip away the Lady Hornets answered as I. Mays knocked down a three point shot for a 48-47 game. Gaddison came right back with a jump-shot for a 50-47 West Bolivar lead with 1:36 on the clock.
The Lady Hornets push the ball up court, but called a timeout with 1:20 left in the game. Out of the timeout, Fields got the ball and got in lane for a lay-up and a foul. She missed the free throw, but close the gap to 50-49.
The Lady Hornets then picked up the defensive intensity as JFK's Kierra Mays recovered a loose ball and the Lady Hornets called a time out with :48 left in the game.
Out of the timeout JFK got the ball to Haywood who scored for a 51-50 JFK lead. On the inbounds, Fields stole the ball and was fouled with :28. The Lady Eagles continued to foul until they were able to finally put JFK on the line shooting one-and-one.
With :19 on the clock Malone stepped to the line and made the first free throw for a 52-50 lead, but missed the second. Fortunately for the Lady Hornets, Haywood was there for the rebound and passed to K. Mays who scored for a 54-50 lead. On the next inbounds pass Fields stole it and scored for a 56-50 lead. Haywood stole the next inbounds pass to secure the victory as time expired.
Fields led the Lady Hornets with 18 points, I. Mays scored 16 points and Haywood had 10 points. Gaddison led West Bolivar with 21 points and Williams had 20 points.
In the boys contest the West Bolivar Eagles came out and used good defense and patient offense to slow down the sharp shooting Broad Street Jaguars.
West Bolivar was particularly good from the charity stripe making 14-of-21 free throws for the game while the Jaguars only went to the line once and was 0-of-2 for the game.
Mack Foster led West Bolivar with 17 points, Jovius Wade scored 11 points, Kylan Johnson had nine points and Stacy Brown chipped in with eight points. Broad Street was led Greg Junearick with 13 points while B.J. Hall Jr. could only muster five points.
West Bolivar Head Coach Cedric Armstrong said, "Our game plan was to keep the ball out of their shooters hands as much as possible and limit their opportunities and I think we did a good job of that tonight."