SCS Cougars shake rust to extinguish Flames

It was an afternoon for knocking off the rust for Starkville Christian School’s varsity basketball teams on Thursday.

With the Cougars only able to get on the court one time since the Christmas break for competition, it took a little while for them to find their game.

After only having a five-point lead at the end of the first quarter in boys action against Scott County Home School, Starkville Christian used a 10-0 run in the second quarter to go up 35-15 at halftime.

The Cougars went on to an easy 56-31 victory over the Flames.

“We haven’t been able been able to practice because of the weather so we had to get in the swing of things,” Starkville Christian guard Isaac Buckner said. “It took us a little bit to get a handle on the ball. Once we did that, we were able to get going a little bit.”

Scott County actually held a 3-0 lead in the game after hitting a 3-point field goal to open the scoring, then Stephen Lane went to work. He scored the next nine points for the Cougars to give them a 9-3 advantage.

After the Flames cut the margin to 13-10, Lane hit a 3-pointer, which was his second of the quarter, and Starkville Christian School held the 16-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

“He knocked down two 3's and that’s big for Stephen,” SCS basketball coach Luke Buckner said. “We’ve been working on that in practice so it was nice to see him come out here and be able to do it in a game.”
The Cougars scored the first five points of the second quarter with a basket by Sam Fairley and a 3-pointer by Drew Latham.

Scott County hit a 3-pointer of its own to get to within 21-14, then Starkville Christian went on its 10-0 spurt with two more baskets by Lane being in the mix.

“We were definitely rusty coming back and we haven’t played in a while,” coach Buckner said. “We had to get some cobwebs off and in the second quarter, we got going a little bit. We got some of the younger guys some experience. That’s always big.”

Lane scored all of his 18 points by halftime to help the Cougars to the 20-point halftime advantage.

A seven-point second half by Jonathan Burkis with a 3-pointer and two more baskets kept the situation moving in a positive direction for Starkville Christian.

Fairley finished with six points for the Cougars.

Starkville Christian, which improved to 11-5, play in the Grace Christian Tournament on Saturday. It plays the host school at 9 a.m.

“Going into the Grace Tournament, it was good to get a game in before that,” Isaac Buckner said.

Girls Game
Starkville Christian 33, Scott County Home School 16

The Lady Cougars used a lock down defensive effort to frustrate the Lady Flames for most of the game.

Starkville Christian pitched a shutout in the first quarter by gaining a 14-0 lead and expanded the difference to 22-8 by halftime.

Even though Scott County had a 6-0 run to open the second half to get to within 22-14, the Lady Cougars got back on track, mainly due to the scoring of Carley Wells, and closed the third quarter on a 8-0 to regain control of the outing at 30-14

Coach Buckner was able to substitute freely throughout the game in both the girls and boys games to see many different combinations.

“It was good experience all around for everybody,” coach Buckner said.

Wells was the only SCS player to score in double digits with 13 points, while Mary Driskell and Lilly Eaves chipped in six points each.

The Lady Cougars now have a record of 10-4.