Following a disappointing loss against Leake Central last week, Kylan Tippett needed his Louisville Wildcats team to step up and make something happen with two Class 4A, Region 4 games on the docket.
The Wildcats had already rebounded from that Leake Central loss by beating Choctaw County on the road at the Mid-Mississippi Challenge, but the district games mattered the most. LHS took care of business in the two-game home stand by knocking off Choctaw Central 84-74 and Northeast Lauderdale 72-71 to move to 12-4 on the season and 3-2 in division play.
Offense was coming from all over the place for both Louisville and Choctaw Central in the first game of the week. Veseddrick Culberson scored 21 points on six 3-pointers, Drea Shumaker had 19 points and Tyrell Thames 16 as the Wildcats were too tough to stop.
The team hit 12 3-pointers in the game including seven in the first quarter when LHS lit up the scoreboard for 27 points. The issue they found for most of the game is they allowed too many points from Choctaw Central as well as the Warriors had three players in double figures also.
To tip off district play back in the first week of January, Louisville went to Northeast Lauderdale and survived a 65-64 ball game. Last Thursday, the Trojans had to have felt déjà vu setting in for them against that same maroon and white-clad squad.
In one of the more impressive back and forth ball games that the Wildcats have been a part of this season, it started out tame with a 14-8 first quarter lead for the visitors. Northeast would take a 40-31 lead in the locker room and LHS was out to try to slow them down in the third.
It couldn’t have been a much better quarter when LHS came out of the locker room. They started things with a 16-3 run and came all the way back to take the lead out-scoring Northeast 22-7 in the frame for a 53-47 lead as all the momentum was on the side of the home team.
But Northeast would regroup and they eventually would take the lead with 3.9 seconds remaining on a basket and it appeared they were on their way to another win over the Wildcats with a 71-70 advantage. On a play that football coach Tyrone Shorter would be proud of, Clay Maury threw a pass the length of the court and found Thames breaking to the goal where he laid it up and in at the buzzer and gave the Wildcats a thrilling win.
It also gave the team a 2-0 record on the week and got them back in the hunt in district play with a 4-1 record.
“I felt like we got better last week,” Tippett said. “I really challenged the guys to not take any of these games for granted and also to finish. I think it was a really successful week for us overall.”
Thames’ game-winning bucket wasn’t his only highlight. He led the team with 21 points in the game and they also had 17 points from Culberson. Ty Cooper scored 10 points with eight of those coming in the first half.
The Wildcats now move to a week that could define where they finish in the district. They play at Kosciusko on Tuesday, West Lauderdale at home on Friday and host the Whippets of Kosciusko on Saturday. The Whippets are currently undefeated in district play so an undefeated week by the Wildcats could go a long way into deciding who might be district champs.
“Kosciusko is a game we’ve been looking forward to for several weeks now. We were ready to play them a couple of weeks ago until the weather messed things up and we had to cancel,” Tippett said. “Playing them twice will be a big challenge for our guys, but I think we’re ready for it. They’re the top team in the district so we have a big opportunity ahead of us.”
GIRLS
It was a break-even week for the LHS Lady Wildcats as they split close outcomes with two of Region 4’s best teams at home.
It began with first-time 4A team Choctaw Central making the visit to Louisville and the former 3A powerhouse was taken to the wire by the Lady Wildcats. It was a game that was back and forth from start to finish as the Lady Wildcats led 14-9 after one quarter but saw the Lady Warriors come back with 24 points in the second to take the 33-29 lead into the locker room.
The lead was closed to 42-40 heading into the fourth and LHS was within striking distance in the final minutes. Ultimately, they would come up just short in a 54-51 ball game.
“Every possession counts. That preaching of attention to details come in every game this time of year. It’s that time of year that you have to grind it out and games like Choctaw Central only makes you better,” head coach Fred Morris said. “If you have an offensive or defensive lapse, they’ll take advantage of that. I’m hoping that’s registering with us.”
There were big contributions from across the lineup for the Lady Wildcats as Areyanna Hunter scored 15 points, had six rebounds and three assists and Kiersten Ball also scored 15 points with eight rebounds of her own. Jalen Ingram added 10 points in the loss.
The Lady Wildcats dominated Northeast Lauderdale in the early going of their game as they jumped out to a 14-2 first quarter lead, but the visitors got some offense going in the second quarter. While the Lady Wildcats were struggling to score themselves, that lead dwindled down to 24-18 at halftime. Hunter was keeping LHS afloat during their struggled as she had five of those points in the quarter and scored seven in the first half to lead the way.
Hunter scored nine of the team’s 16 points in what was a dry second and third quarter that allowed Northeast Lauderdale not only to stay in the game but take the lead after three frames 36-30.
But the Lady Wildcats buckled down. They gave up seven points in the fourth quarter and scored 18 of their own to take the 48-43 win. Hunter was the star in the game on both ends leading the way in the defensive press and scoring 21 points offensively. She added nine rebounds to help get LHS a revenge win after losing earlier in the year.
LHS moved to 13-6 on the year with a 3-2 conference record and they’re currently the third seed in the district with more time to make up ground over the next two weeks. They’ll have three district games this week against Kosciusko and West Lauderdale.
“I want to see defensive execution offensive execution and effort,” Morris said. “I want us to come out and put four quarters together.”
