Although the first half indicated a close score, the West Harrison Lady Hurricanes put on a barrage of second half scoring to eliminate the North Pike Lady Jaguars from the First Round of the MHSAA 5A Playoffs Monday night by a score of 67-57. As the Lady Hurricanes (17-8) were down by three at halftime, a scoring clinic occurred in the second half finishing just shy of fifty points.
“We didn’t have a whole lot of energy in the first half, especially on defense,” said West Harrison High School Girls Basketball Coach Otis Gates. “We created a few opportunities in the second half, which helped us.”
West Harrison Senior Guard Allanah Turner had 18 of the 25 points in the first half, but the Lady Hurricanes were down 28-25 at the half.
A distribution of the ball to four different hands helped the Lady Hurricanes secure the victory easily 67-57.
“I’m extremely proud of them fighting through,” said Gates. “We struggled in the district championship game against Stone and we came out early with that same problem, but we fought through it, continued to play hard, come up with a win , and moved on.”
Lady Hurricanes Turner lead all scorers with 25 points, but Junior Guard Tuende Seymour had 14 points; including four 3-point baskets.
West Harrison will play Brookhaven High School for the second round of the 5A MHSAA Playoffs Friday at 7pm. The Brookhaven Lady Panthers are 26-1 and won Region 6 in 5A.
In other actions for the Girls High School Basketball, the Pass Christian Lady Pirates beat Greene County 55-42. Pass High (23-7) will play away against tomorrow’s winner of NE Lauderdale/South Pike.
Finally, Girls Basketball at Long Beach High School was eliminated from the first round of the MHSAA playoffs by Picayune 44-20. The Lady Bearcats (10-17) made a stoic victory over Gautier for the consolation birth in the state playoffs, but couldn’t overcome the Lady Maroon Tide.
