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SA basketball teams drop matches at JA |
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Friday, 20 November 2009 |
From Staff Reports
JACKSON — The Starkville Academy Lady Volunteers witnessed a team that was ready for payback Thursday, as Jackson Academy atoned for a pair of losses to Glenn Schmidt’s team last season with a 51-32 win.
JA raced out to a 21-0 lead to start the match before cruising to the win.
The rebound margin told the story, Schmidt said, as JA posted 32 boards to Starkville Academy’s 13.
“I can always, in my mind, tell how a team is playing by the way they rebound,” she said. “[JA] looked pretty good. That’s the best basketball team we’ve played this year.”
The hot start from JA was something the Lady Vols haven’t seen before this season, Schmdit said.
“JA came out and played about as intently a first quarter as we’ve been played in a couple of years,” she said. “I think it was 21-0 before we scored. We beat them twice last year and I knew coming down this year it would be a war. They put some intense defense on us and it took us a while to get going.”
Though the first half saw SA with a large deficit, the Lady Vols closed the gap in the second half.
“To me, we didn’t quit,” she said. “It wasn’t a matter of us not playing, it was a matter of them playing so much more physical and aggressive than we were able to play tonight. But we turned it up a notch in the second half.”
Tiffany Huddleston led SA with nine points and five rebounds, while Mary Austin Barber had eight points and a pair of rebounds. Anna Prestridge added seven points and three rebounds, and senior Kylie Lockhart had four points.
The Lady Vols (3-4, 0-1 Class AAA) return to the court Saturday against Leake Academy.
BOYS
Jackson Academy 57, Starkville Academy 26
Clay Stringer believes his team got a good taste of the level it will have to play at following a 57-26 loss to Jackson Academy Thursday night.
The Raiders used a 33-5 advantage at halftime to build a comfortable led they didn’t relinquish.
However, Stringer’s positive to take away from the match included a fourth quarter in which the Vounteers outscored the home team 21-19.
“We came out and had to go against a really intent, tough defensive team that’s really athletic,” Stringer said. “We kind of ran into a buzz saw to start with. But after that, we had a lot of really good things I saw. I saw some mental toughness that we wouldn’t have had in the past.”
Stringer’s young Vols (0-5, 0-1), who host Leake Academy Saturday, will learn from Thursday’s loss, Stringer said.
“It will be a learning experience in a lot of ways, but the main thing was that we didn’t stop fighting against a team that’s better than us right now,” Stringer said. “It was an opportunity for the young guys to play against the speed they’ll have to play with this season. We’ll get better from it.”
Patrick Jones led SA with 12 points and eight rebounds, while Jordan Graham had five points and five boards. Jon Michael Robinson added five points and four rebounds.
Clayton Durfey led JA with nine points.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 21 November 2009 )
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