Clarksdale girls beat Senatobia, secure home playoff game

By Josh Troy

Clarksdale Advocate

When Senatobia double-teamed Clarksdale High School sophomore post player Caitlin Hall within the Region 3-4A District tournament opener, other Lady Wildcats stepped up.No. 1 Clarksdale (22-1, 7-0) earned a 33-15 victory against No. 4 Senatobia at Yazoo City Tuesday night to earn a spot within the district tournament championship. The Lady Wildcats will face No. 3 seed Gentry within the championship with tipoff set for 7 p.m. Friday at Yazoo City High School.

The Lady Wildcats’ victory Tuesday guaranteed them a house game in the primary round of the playoffs next week, but they will improve their standing in the event that they beat Gentry Friday. If Clarksdale beats Gentry, it might mean a No. 1 bracket seed within the playoffs next week. Clarksdale coach Greg Wilson said his team played well defensively against Senatobia Tuesday and can have to do the sport against Gentry on Friday.

“We’ve just got to play good solid defense and, offensively, we’ve got to execute against their man-to-man pressure,” he said. Hall finished with 12 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double against Senatobia, but 8 of the points got here throughout the second half. Hall’s teammates stepped up early as Clarksdale jumped out to an 11-2 lead at the tip of the primary quarter. Sophomore guard Sylenthia Earl and sophomore shooting guard and small forward Janterria Logan each connected on one 3-pointer throughout the opening period. Each athletes scored all of their points throughout the first quarter, ending with 6 and Logan contributing 3.

“I believed we played really good defense,” Wilson said. “They sort of doubled down on Caitlin. We swung it around a few times and hit a few 3s and just played good defense. That kept them at bay and kept us ahead of the sport.” Senior forward Janya Walker finished with 9 points.

“I believed Walker played well tonight, considered one of our seniors,” Wilson said. “I believed she played very well on the defensive end and rebounding the ball well and just executing what we were attempting to execute.” Junior guard Ramiyah Brown finished with 3 points, while junior guard Shacora Jurden had 1.