The Parklane girls basketball team watched a 3-pointer fall in at the end of regulation and free throws down the stretch seal their fate on their own court against Starkville Academy on Wednesday night.
The Pioneers lost 62-60 in overtime, while the boys lost 59-46 to Pillow Academy in the opening round of the MPSA AAA Division I tournament. Both were eliminated from postseason play.
The Lady Pioneers took their biggest lead of the second half with 31 seconds left in regulation as Caitlin Adams put Parklane up 54-48 at the free throw line.
Starkville’s Valerie Stewart hit a 3-pointer to close it to 54-51 with 19 seconds left.
The Pioneers turned the ball over on their next possession with 12 seconds left. Parklane had a foul to give and stopped the clock with :08 left.
Starkville inbounded the ball and swung it into the corner for Stewart. She hit the game-tying 3-pointer with a hand in her face, and regulation ended before the Pioneers inbounded the ball.
“Two just huge shots,” Parklane head coach Russell Cruise said. “Stewart made two phenomenal shots when she was well-guarded.”
Unfortunately for Parklane, Stewart also had the opportunity to make the game-winning free throws in overtime.
Lindsay Clark tied the game at 58 with a minute left in overtime. After Starkville’s Tiffany Huddleston made just one of her free throws with 33 seconds remaining, Parklane freshman Maggie Paulk hit a shot on the baseline with 10 seconds left to put Parklane up 60-59.
Starkville found Stewart once again, and this time she missed but was fouled on her 3-point attempt.
With 3.2 seconds left on the clock, Stewart made all three foul shots to put Starkville up 62-60.
Parklane’s inbound pass to halfcourt was picked off and Starkville ran out the clock.
Parklane was led by seniors Clark and Adams in the scoring column. Adams scored 20 points, and Clark added 16. Both of them grabbed seven rebounds.
The close game throughout showed what the Pioneers had been doing all year — “competing from tip to buzzer,” Cruise said.
On Wednesday, the Pioneers also had a little extra help. Paulk and Anna Prestridge played significant minutes after spending almost the entire season on the junior varsity. Paulk scored 12 points and came up with some important rebounds for the Pioneers. Prestridge scored two points, but ran the offense to give the starters a break.
“Everyone stepped up,” Cruise said. “Paulk had big rebounds and scored 12 points. She really stepped it up and didn’t appear to have any nerves as a freshman playing in the state tournament. She came in and competed.
“Prestridge handled the ball and ran the offense well.”
Pillow 59, Parklane 46
Parklane’s boys team looked like themselves right before half as they erased a slow start by cutting Pillow’s lead to four at 28-24.
After giving up their 12-point lead, the Mustangs didn’t let it happen again. Pillow stretched it back out to double digits in the first minute and a half of the third quarter, and pushed it to as many as 16 before the fourth.
Parklane got as close as six in the fourth, but couldn’t find that spark to get on top.
“They kept us out of the paint,” Parklane head coach Ricky Gray said. “On our shots we are missing now we hit earlier (in the year). We’re just dog tired. We’ve had nothing left those last two weeks.”
Without the outside shooting to ignite a comeback, Blake Rhodus was the only consistent scorer for the Pioneers. He finished with 18 points, but couldn’t make up the difference.
Aside from the mini-run to end the first half, the Pioneers weren’t the team Pillow thought they were.
“They’ve got two good guards and a good post player and can run,” Pillow head coach Steve Makamson said. “They’re very athletic and fast.
“They made that big run, and we didn’t get back on defense. I told the guys at halftime, and they did in the second half.”
It wasn’t just on defense that Pillow ran. Their rebounding edge led to easy buckets just as much as getting back on defense kept Parklane shooting from the outside.
“I thought they did a good job of what we should do, which is run,” Gray said.
The slow start to both halves proved a little too much for the Pioneers.
“We had two good runs,” Gray said, “but you don’t give good teams 10, 12 points leads and come back.”
