Coach Courtney O’Briant-Wright has won district championships as a player at East Webster and as an assistant coach, but she had a chance to get the trifecta on Friday evening.
Playing in a gym that is all too familiar to her during her many years on the bench and as a player for the Lady Wolverines, O’Briant-Wright had a tough task ahead of her with her team playing Calhoun City. The Lady Wildcats are a tough out on any evening but especially in their gym and they came out with the upper hand.
Despite falling behind by double digits in the first half, EWHS stayed the course and got the lead in the second half. An incredible defensive effort paved the way for back-to-back Class 2A, Region 4 titles as the Lady Wolverines held on in a tough battle, 52-47.
After the team fell back by 13 points early in the second quarter, O’Briant-Wright settled them in and they found a way to chip their way back into it.
“I told them that this is what we’ve been preparing for all year,” O’Briant-Wright said. “All they had to do was hit the open girl, attack and don’t settle for the 3-point shot. We just needed to do what it took to help the team.”
Spearheaded by the defense in the backcourt from Da’Nasia Logan and the tough tandem inside of senior Shameriah Culpepper and eighth grader Yasmine Roberts, the Lady Wolverines took a 19-8 deficit in the first quarter and 21-8 mark in the second and turned things around.
EWHS cut the lead down to 30-25 at the break before starting to really take hold of the ball game. It was an 8-1 run out of the locker room to get the first lead since the opening minutes of the first quarter and it grew that third frame before Calhoun City cut it down to 43-42.
The defense gave up zero field goals in the fourth quarter and was able to keep CCHS fully out of contention.
Roberts came through with 19 points in the first three quarters as the eighth grader is blossoming into a monster on the inside. Culpepper had some of the same potential as a young Lady Wolverine and she can see it in her younger teammate.
“We push her in her practice to do her best,” Culpepper said of Roberts. “She’s a little nervous, but she’s getting there.”
Culpepper turned things on in the fourth quarter scoring seven points and being one of the key defenders turning away shots on the inside. She had 13 points in the game. The Lady Wolverines also overcame a very poor shooting night with just seven makes in 29 tries.
The victory made the team 20-10 in O’Briant-Wright’s first year as the head coach and has them heading into the playoffs as the No. 1 seed took on Myrtle on Monday night. It was all too sweet for the coach to see her Alma Mater get that win.
“It means a whole lot,” O’Briant-Wright said. “I’m proud as a head coach and I told my girls that if I want to win any district championship, I wanted to win it with them. They went out and had my back and I’m so proud of them. I wouldn’t trade this game for anything else.”
A victory on Monday would have EWHS hosting either New Site or North Side on Friday night at 6.
Boys
To the knowledge of those deeply entrenched in East Webster athletics, the Wolverines came into Friday night’s game having never won a boys basketball district tournament title.
That includes Jon Ginn’s teams who have won the regular season and had undefeated records in district play in four of the last six years. That long streak continued on Friday against a team that’s been on the other end of the coin many of the times before.
The Wolverines got down big in the first half before clawing back in it in the third quarter but CCHS had a final push that would put the game away with 68-43 win in a dominant fourth quarter.
“We had worked so hard to try to get back. Our shots weren’t falling and we were turning the ball over way too much,” Ginn said. “We just never could get into any kind of rhythm and all credit to Calhoun City. They had a monster press and never would let us do what we needed to do.”
The offense never fully got into a flow for the Wolverines. The team shot a brutal 4-for-30 from 3-point range and fell behind by 17 points in the first half while also seeing starting center Omarion O’Briant go down with an injury and eighth grader Prentiss Cork take his place the rest of the way. It was 13-5 after the first quarter and 32-17 at the half as the team dug itself a hole.
EWHS showed some life in the third going on an 8-2 run out of the locker room to cut the lead to 34-25 and it was down to eight points midway through the quarter. Unfortunately, the Wildcats came alive in the final minute with a 6-0 run that made it 48-33 and it was over from there.
Jerkel Ivy had 11 points to lead the way on a night where offense was tough to come back. That loss dropped the Wolverines to 22-8 and gave them the No. 2 seed. They hosted MS Palmer on Tuesday night in Cumberland and Ginn was expecting better from his team after a little rest.
“We talked about making history (Friday). City knows what time of year it is and they stepped it up a big notch. We didn’t match that energy for four quarters,” Ginn said. “We’re beat up right now and we need to take a couple days of rest. We’ll bounce back. I still have high hopes for this team that we can make some kind of run. A night like (Friday) needs to be some type of stepping stone.”
A win against Palmer would have EWHS playing either Baldwyn or O’Bannon. If it’s Baldwyn, the Wolverines will be on the road in round two at 6 p.m.
