HATTIESBURG – Prior to 2008, the Hattiesburg girls basketball program had never made it to the state tournament. On Monday night, the Hattiesburg Lady Tigers punched their fifth straight ticket to the Big House, marking the ninth time since the 2008 season Hattiesburg has accomplished the postseason feat.
The Lady Tigers used a gritty 45-41 win over a pesky Wayne County team that was playing its basketball of the season entering Monday night’s contest.
“The fact that we’ve never been there up until 2008, the fact that our kids have bought into (the program), and we’ve had the talent to get us there, I think that speaks volumes for any sport,” Hattiesburg coach Caronica Jackson said.
Hattiesburg will matchup with Olive Branch in the 5A semifinals at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 5, at the Big House in Jackson. The other semifinal game will be between West Jones and Germantown at 5:30 p.m.
The Lady War Eagles finished the regular season in the last place in Region 5-5A, but they won the third-place game of the region tournament before taking down Forest Hill in the first round of the 5A playoffs. Wayne County’s biggest win of the season came last Friday, upsetting a one-loss Stone team to set up a third meeting with Hattiesburg this season.
The Lady Tigers won the prior two contests with Wayne County by 11 and 25 points, but the quarterfinal matchup proved to be more difficult.
“It’s hard to get a team mentally prepared when you’ve already beaten a team twice by a substantial amount,” Jackson said. “You look at their record and you try to make them understand, ‘this is the playoffs. They’ve won three playoff games in a row, so they’re apparently playing a whole lot better basketball.’”
With the help of Wayne County’s Aaliyah Hill, the Lady War Eagles hung close enough with Hattiesburg in the first quarter to stay within striking distance. Hill scored the team’s first six points of the game, then 10 of the first 14 points for Wayne County.
“(Hill) is their offense and she worked really hard,” Jackson said. “She worked really hard to get it, they worked really hard to get it to her and she finished when she got it.”
During that time, Hattiesburg had three different players score in the first quarter, but none were named Meliya Grayson, Hattiesburg’s leading scorer. She started the game by going 0-for-4 from the field before scoring four straight points to open the second quarter. She helped Hattiesburg build a 17-10 lead before leaving the game for the rest of the half with two fouls.
After Grayson left the floor, Wayne County got five straight points from Lasharia Everett to help take its first lead of the game, 18-17, with 41 seconds left in the half.
“They were a better team and they were outplaying us,” Jackson said. “They were making the plays, we were getting beat off the ball, they were making the extra passes that were there and they were finishing on the inside.”
Wayne County finished the first half by scoring the final five points, then it scored four more quick points to start the third quarter with a 23-18 lead.
Hattiesburg’s Ty Vance then sunk her third 3-pointer to cut into the lead, as she had a few clutch moments in the game. A few minutes later, the senior stole a ball near midcourt, and finished it herself to tie the game with 1:30 to play in the third. The Lady Tigers would take the lead for good a few seconds later.
Vance finished with 13 points.
“It really was (one of her best games) as far as the weight of the game,” Jackson said. “It’s another elimination game, and when the post (players) aren’t doing what they were supposed to and she really hasn’t been shooting well up until this game, so the fact that she had the confidence to step up and knock those shots down was really big for us.”
After Grayson was nearly shutout in the first half, she finished the night with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
The junior started to heat up in the fourth quarter, picking up three straight and-1 fouls. She only converted one old-fashioned 3-pointer, but Wayne County couldn’t stop her from getting to the rim in the final frame.
“The last few times we played them, they would kind of double (Grayson) then go out,” Jackson said. “But this time, they made sure to keep a body attached to her, and as you can see, it kind of frustrated her a little bit.
“Once we got it settled and took her out of the game to let her know she is who we go to. She had to get it together. My guards did a much better job of getting the ball inside to her to get her going.”
Junior Chelsea Ulmer, who had 11 points, made four free throws down the stretch to put the game away.
