Photos by Ronnie Day
(Left) Jakhari Mitchell (4) drives inside the lane against a Lady Gator. (Right) DaQuan Smith (12) soars to the goal versus Lake Cormorant Friday at the Landers Center.
Photos by Ronnie Day
Kaila King (24) puts up a short shot versus Lake Cormorant.
Rahmon Rutherford (24) takes a shot inside the lane.
Smith scores 47 in Hawks’ win
It took DaQuan Smith a quarter to heat up, and then he was on fire.
The Holly High senior, who signed last week with Murray State, scorched Lake Cormorant with 47 points Friday at the Landers Center in Southaven. The Hawks won 69-61.
Smith scored all his points in three quarters. He was 15 of 15 from the free-throw line and hit four three-pointers.
“The threes he made were from the NBA three-point line (farther out) on an NBA court (home of the G-League’s Memphis Hustle),” said Sylvester Kilgore, head coach of the Hawks. “The Landers Center did not have a high school three-point field goal line.”
The Hawks outscored Lake Cormorant 25-17 in the fourth quarter.
The Gators got to within three, 63-60, late in the game but Smith answered with a pair of free throws and a bucket off a Holly High steal to secure the victory.
“Free throws and rebounding pulled it off,” Kilgore said.
Ladarius Stinson and Smith had five rebounds each. Anthony Johnson led in assists with three. Smith, Cori Bell and Cornelious Bridgeforth had three steals each.
In the first game of the afternoon, the Class 3A Lady Hawks let a four-point halftime lead slip away and lost a nail-biter to the 5A Lady Gators, 46-43.
The game was tied at 12 after one quarter. Holly High pulled ahead 26-22 at the half, but Lake Cormorant used a strong third to surge ahead 38-35 entering the final period.
The Lady Hawks got to within one a couple of times in the final frame but couldn’t quite rally.
An eighth grader, Arkajah Sims, led Holly High in scoring with 15 points. Arriyuna Washington also scored in double figures with 11. Jakhari Mitchell added nine.
Lady Hawks-New Albany
The Holly High girls played Saturday in the Coaches For A Cure Classic at Lewisburg and lost 41-31 to New Albany.
Washington was the leading scorer for the Lady Hawks with 13. Ashanta Aldridge added seven.
The Lady Hawks (0-3) and the Hawks (1-1) visited Booneville Tuesday night. They will host cross-county rival Byhalia Friday night. Next Tuesday, Nov. 21, they collide with another intra-county foe, traveling to H.W. Byers.