By Cody Stark
It wasn’t easy, but the Lady Hornets found a way to clinch at least a share of the District 18-4A crown.
Sophomore guard Ceidra Coleman scored 16 points as the Huntsville girls basketball team held off a scrappy Magnolia West bunch for a 45-33 victory at the Paul Bohan Hornet Gym on Friday night. The win sets up a showdown between the Lady Hornets (12-1 in district, 21-5 overall) and Willis on Tuesday.
If Huntsville beats the Lady Wildkats (11-2, 25-8), then the Lady Hornets will clinch the district championship outright. A loss and the two teams will be co-champs.
“I’m excited to play Willis again,” Coleman said. “Last year they beat us twice and we beat them already this season. I’m ready to play them again and beat them.”
The Lady Hornets almost made Tuesday’s game a winner-take-all matchup for the 18-4A title.
Huntsville let a double-digit lead slip away to begin the third quarter Friday night. Magnolia West (8-5, 12-14) opened the second half with a 6-0 run and eventually tied the contest at 24 when senior forward Angie Guillory, who finished with 14 points, scored four straight with four minutes to go in the quarter.
The Lady Hornets responded with an 8-0 run. Junior post Ronisha Major, senior guard Shonecra James, Coleman and sophomore forward DaQualya Terry all scored during the spurt to make it 32-24.
“For the most part, we were rather poised tonight,” HHS head coach Jay Oliphant said. “They went on a run in the third quarter and tied the game, and I thought we did a good job of coming back down the court and hitting some crucial baskets.”
James, who added nine points, hit a 3 and Coleman knocked in a free throw to give the Lady Hornets an 11-point lead at the 4:31 mark of the fourth quarter.
Magnolia West never threatened again, the Lady Mustangs gave Huntsville a good look at what it might run into down the road in the playoffs.
Magnolia West slowed down the running-and-gunning Lady Hornets and did a good job of breaking Huntsville’s full-court press.
“(Head coach Laura Joiner) does a great job with Magnolia West. You can’t take anything away from the Lady Mustangs,” Oliphant added. “They are tough and resilient. They are going to play hard for 32 minutes. You have to play all 32 minutes along with them.
“The one good thing about this game is that we might run into a team like that which likes to slow it down and pass the ball a lot before they shoot it in the playoffs. It gets us adjusted to playing a team like that.”
Tuesday’s game at Willis is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m.
