It wasn’t easy, it wasn’t pretty, but the North Pike Jaguars avoided a season-ending loss at the hands of Moss Point by rallying for a 64-61 victory at home Monday night in the first round of the 4A South State playoffs.
The Lady Jags trailed Moss Point, which finished third in the Region 8 tournament, 61-58 with three minutes left in the game. But North Pike would close the game on a 6-0 run behind stifling defense and clutch free throw shooting in order to save its season.
“They had a look with about three minutes left that they weren’t going to lose,” North Pike head coach Lance Golmon said of his team after the game.
Monday’s showdown featured the physicality and brutality expected out of a playoff game. The Lady Jags and Lady Tigers battled from the opening tip to the final buzzer, with neither team ever leading by more than single-digits.
The two teams used starkly contrasting styles in the back-and-forth thriller, with the Lady Jags relying on Region 7 MVP Tatyana Turner’s perimeter play and Moss Point turning to its obvious size advantage.
Turner scored a team-high 25 points, including five 3-pointers to help pace the Lady Jags. Whenever North Pike needed a big basket, it would turn to Turner, its leader on offense, to make a play and put points on the board. Time after time, Turner delivered for the Lady Jags, who were coming off a loss in the Region 7 title game to South Pike.
The Lady Tigers countered Turner’s onslaught with their two powerful post presences: forward Briana Corley and center Maya Harvey. Corley, a 5-foot-10 forward, stood taller than all seven Lady Jags to see action Monday. Harvey, a 6-footer in the middle, was head-and-shoulders above every North Pike defender thrown at her.
The guard-heavy Lady Jags tried to counter Moss Point’s size with a fullcourt press and up-tempo pace at both ends of the floor. Golmon’s press turned out to be a feast-or-famine proposition for North Pike, which either forced a turnover in the backcourt or were burned by the much larger Corley and Harvey at the other end.
Corley finished with 19 points for the game, most of which came in the first half. Harvey took over in the second half, running up a 26-point total to lead all scorers.
“I have never seen another girls team that was that big,” Golmon said of Moss Point.
Harvey left the game for a brief spell in the second quarter with a lower back injury. The center was in a great deal of pain when the injury first occurred, and many on-hand wondered what her status would be for the remainder of the game.
She would return to the action just minutes later to pick up the Lady Tigers, but she was not the only player to leave the game with an injury.
Late in the third quarter, a melee for a loose ball ended with with a large handful of players lying on the ground in pain (Moss Point hit a 3-pointer over the pile of bodies to bring the action to a temporary halt). North Pike’s Sarah Brock and Rachel Thompson limped to the sidelines to rest for the final minute of the quarter, but both returned to start the fourth quarter.
“I told them that Moss Point was going to be big and going to be physical,” Golmon said, “but we made the stops when we needed to.”
Lady Jaguars’ guard Rickera Martin aided Turner’s effort with a 16-point night of her own, including a pair of 3-pointers. Martin scored North Pike’s final four points — two on a layup sparked by a Brock steal in the press, and two more from the free throw line with 0.7 seconds left to ice the game.
North Pike will now enter the South State tournament field at Raymond High School, beginning with Thursday’s quarterfinals.
The Lady Jags will take on Region 5 champion Quitman at 4 p.m. with a semifinal berth on the line.
