Fresh off their Travis Outlaw Slam Dunk at the Hump Tournament championship, the Louisville Lady Wildcats opened 2019 with a resounding 70-26 win over rival Kosciusko. The win not only gave Louisville its 11th win of the year, but it also gave the Lady Wildcats their first Region 4-4A win of the season.
Louisville (11-2, 1-0 Region 4-4A) led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter and 38-9 at halftime. The Lady Wildcats outscored the Lady Whippets 33-17 in the last two periods.
Fourteen Louisville Lady Wildcat players scored points. Jalen Ingram and Kiersten Ball each tallied nine points, while Iitasha Paty and Lymyia Fifer chipped in with eight points apiece.
“Kosciusko is in a rebuilding process, and their coach is doing a great job with them so far,” Louisville coach Kenyon Ross said.
After a challenging out-of-region schedule, Ross said his squad is more than prepared for its Region 4-4A slate of games.
“That’s why we played the non-conference games that we played, (to) get ready for district play,” Ross said. “
Louisville, which is 3-0 at home this season, hosts Region 4-4A opponent Leake Central Tuesday before closing out the week on the road at Noxubee County.
BOYS
Louisville ended up on the losing end of its back-and-forth Region 4-4A opener against Kosciusko last Friday.
A last-second field goal by Kosciusko to end the first half propelled the Whippets to their victory.
“It was a well-played game by both teams, and it came down to spurts and Kosciusko made more baskets, and they ended up winning the game,” Ross said. “They made crucial plays at crucial times to seal the game.”
Tequavious Braggs finished with a team-high 24 points. Shemar Eiland scored 16 points, and Tyrell Thames tallied 10 points.
The loss snapped a six-game Louisville winning streak that dated back to Dec. 7.
“This district for the boys, it’s going to be competitive for everybody,” Ross said. “There are going to be a lot of (good) teams. Normally when you play your district ball games, you normally have one team that runs away with it. But in our district, when it comes to the boys, there are five teams in the district, and there is going to be a five-team race.”
