MA girls give Leake fits, beat Canton, Winston


Thursday, February 22, 2007
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MA girls give Leake fits, beat Canton, Winston

By BARRY BURLESON
Editor

Photos by Barry Burleson

Surrounded
MA’s Samantha Cody (top photo) and Kim Shaw (bottom photo) find themselves surrounded by a couple of Canton players.

The Marshall Academy Lady Patriots went two for three in last week’s North AA Tournament - the lone loss coming to top-ranked and unbeaten Leake after putting a scare into the Lady Rebels in the first half.

Marshall moves on to the State AA Tournament this week at Brookhaven as the third seed from the north.

The MA girls, who received a bye thanks to their district crown, opened north half play at Grenada Wednesday, Feb. 14, with a 52-14 rout of Canton Academy.

Marshall led 32-11 at the half and Canton only scored three points in the second half.

Ten Lady Patriots scored. Kim Shaw led the way with 24. Traci Rodgers followed with eight.

Next came high-flying Leake in the semi-finals Friday afternoon. MA hung close in the first half before falling 79-55.

The Lady Patriots fell behind 18-1. But they didn’t die. They fought back and trailed 28-21 after one quarter and 46-37 at the half.

“We really battled,” said head coach Craig Dailey. “We cut it to five at one point and had a three try rim out.”

Shaw and Rodgers scored 37 of the team’s 55. Shaw had 21 and Rodgers 16.

“We had been talking about them (Leake) all year,” Dailey said. “They’re awfully good.

“They (Leake) were tired for the first time. We wore them down. We got them out of their press and that hasn’t happened this year.

“My girls played extremely well, and if we do our jobs this week, we get another shot at them.”

The Lady Patriots bounced back in the consolation game Saturday afternoon to trounce Winston Academy 56-40.

MA went up 18-7 early and led 27-25 at the half. They secured the victory in the third quarter with a 16-6 run.

“That was a huge win (to get third),” Dailey said. “The loser would have to go against Brookhaven at Brookhaven.

“Plus, with the win (versus Winston), we’re one game away from overall. That would be a huge accomplishment for these girls. This group has never been to overall. When you get this far, anything can happen.”

Chelsea Faulkenbery and Shaw lit up the scoreboard with 17 points each. Rodgers added 13.

Shaw and Rodgers were named to the all-tournament team.

Schedule

The Lady Patriots (33-9) meet Copiah Academy Wednesday, Feb. 21, at 4 p.m. in the Class AA State Tournament quarter-finals. With a win, they will face the Leake-Columbia survivor Friday at 1 p.m. The consolation and title contests are Saturday at 1 p.m. and 2:15 p.m. The top four teams move on to the Overall Tournament next week at Mississippi College in Clinton.

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