It was the kind of tune up the Choctaw County Lady Chargers were looking for with the Class 3A, Region 4 schedule looming.
Once the Lady Chargers got into the flow of the game against Kosciusko on Tuesday night, they began to score and never looked back for a 59-35 victory.
“This was a good tune up game, before we start district play,” Choctaw County girls basketball coach Cory Guyton said. “Our defense has been our anchor all year and came through once again (Tuesday night). This is my first head coaching job after being the assistant coach at McAdams for several years, so it feels good to have your own program and run things your way, but at the end of the day, I have to give all the glory to God.”
Jessica Miles, an assistant with the Lady Chargers, is a former Lady Whippet, but expects big things this season for her team.
“I’ve always been loyal to my high school and hometown,” Miles said. “I coach here now though and we’ve got a lot of potential here at Choctaw County and we’re planning on winning a district title and hopefully playing for the state championship.”
In the first quarter, the game started out scoreless through the first 2 minutes, but the Lady Chargers struck first after a jumper from Lakyshia Mitchell and led 2-0 with 5:24 left in the opening period.
Kosciusko answered back seconds later with a jumper of its own to tie the game at 2-2 at the 5 minute mark.
A 4-0 Choctaw County run led completely by LaGenesis Johnson gave the Lady Chargers a 6-2 lead with 3:30 left in the opening quarter of play.
“This win feels great and I’m willing to do whatever it takes to help my team win district games and make a deep playoff run,” Johnson said. “Going forward, we just need to put more pressure on the ball and continue to play hard-nosed defense and if we can do that, we’ll continue to win games as we have been doing all year.”
The Lady Chargers closed out the opening period on a 5-3 run and led 11-5 heading to the second quarter.
In the second quarter, Choctaw County scored on a late layup in the first minute from Brysa Maxwell and the lead was 13-5 with 7:05 left in the first half.
The Lady Chargers went on a 14-6 run the next few minutes and led the Lady Whippets 27-11 with 3 minutes remaining in the half.
Kosciusko outscored Choctaw County 3-0 to end the first half, but the Lady Chargers held to a lead of 27-14.
In the third quarter, Choctaw County opened up with a 4-0 run, with buckets from Maxwell and Johnson to bring the lead to 29-14 with 6:30 left in the period.
The duo continued to dominate the scoring and the boards as the Lady Chargers went on a 10-4 run and led 39-18 at the 3-minute mark.
Choctaw County closed out the quarter on a 12-6 run and led 51-24 heading to the final minutes of play.
In the fourth quarter, Maxwell and Johnson continued to score, block shots and grab rebounds at will through the first 4 minutes and the Lady Chargers went on a run of 8-5 to lead 59-29 with 3:40 left in the game.
The game ended on a 6-0 run for Kosciusko, but Choctaw County claimed the dominant victory. Johnson led the Lady Chargers with 19 points.
The Lady Chargers improved their record to 13-5 heading into district play.
Boys Game
Choctaw County 54, Kosciusko 40
In the boys game, it was a back and forth affair for most of the evening, but a late fourth quarter surge saw the Chargers prevail.
“This was a great game,” Choctaw County coach Gary Beals said. “They held us very well on defense for most of the game, but when we went to a smaller lineup, we were able to find big plays that helped us win the game (Tuesday night). Going forward to district, I expect a great game from South Pontotoc, who gets after teams very well on defense, but I’m always up for a good challenge and I think our guys are as well.”
In the first quarter, the Chargers scored first on a jumper from Akeem Kirkwood to take a 2-0 lead with 6:45 left in the opening period.
A 6-3 Choctaw County run led by Steven Triplett and Jeremy Miller had it leading 8-3 at the 4:30 mark.
The Chargers outscored the Whippets 13-7 to close out the quarter and led 20-10.
In the second quarter, Kosciusko scored three quick points to cut the lead to 20-13, but Kirkwood ended the scoring drought and scored Choctaw County’s first points of the period and the lead was 22-13 with 6:40 left in the first half.
Kirkwood continued to split defenders scoring the next four points in a 4-1 Charger run and Choctaw County increased its lead to 26-14 with 3:15 left in the half.
The first half ended on a 7-0 Kosciusko run and the Charger lead was 26-21 at the break.
In the third quarter, Triplett and Miller led a 4-0 Charger run to begin the second half and the lead quickly grew to 30-21 at the 6-minute mark.
The quarter ended on a 14-10 Whippet run, but Choctaw County was still clinging to a 40-34 lead into the final quarter after huge 3-pointers from Triplett and Devonte Miller.
In the fourth quarter, Triplett continued to make it rain with big shot from downtown with 7:30 left to play and the Charger lead grew to 43-34.
The Miller brothers continued to light up the scoreboard on a 5-3 run, which included a huge slam dunk for Jeremy and a flashy finger roll for Devonte and the lead kept growing 48-34 with 5 minutes remaining.
Seconds later, Kirkwood threw down a dunk of his own and the lead was now 50-36 with 4:35 left to play.
Both teams scored four points to end the game and the Chargers walked off in dominating fashion.
Kirkwood led the Chargers with 19 points.
“It feels great to win the way we did heading into district play,” Kirkwood said. “Going forward, we just need to keep our heads up, never let up and make the other teams play our game in order to have success.”
The Chargers improved their record to 11-6 heading into district play Friday night at South Pontotoc.