Senior guard Patrice Broomfield was the leading scorer in both games as the Clarksdale High School girls won the district tournament championship in Greenwood last week.
Winning the tournament put the Lady Wildcats (20-8, 7-1) in the Class 4A playoffs and they opened with a 59-24 win at home against North Pontotoc Monday night.
They host Northeast Lauderdale at 6 p.m. Friday for the second round of the playoffs.
“I think we’re playing pretty well,” said Clarksdale coach Greg Wilson. “I think our guard play is stabilized playing well offensively and defensively.”
Clarksdale won the district tournament championship game against Greenwood last Friday 67-53.
Broomfield was the leading scorer with 26 points.
The Lady Wildcats opened the tournament with a 58-35 win against Yazoo City. Broomfield once again led the way with 16 points.
The Lady Wildcats concluded the regular season on senior night with a 73-22 victory against Yazoo City.
Broomfield led the way with 34 points, on five 3-pointers Tameria Danield followed with 17 on four 3-pointers, A'myiah Fizer and Jimara Clay scored 5 each, Tamari Marbley had 4, Learla Griffin and Alexis Moore had 3 each.
Wilson felt his team was playing well following the regular season finale headed into the district tournament.
“We came out and played a complete game,” he said. “I thought the girls rebounded the ball well. They were able to get out and get into transition early. That always helps us out.”
The win on senior night gave the Lady Wildcats the No. 1 spot going into the district tournament.
“We’ll hope this just propels us on to a long and joyous postseason,” said Wilson before the district tournament.
When the current senior class was in eighth grade, the Lady Wildcats finished last in the district. They won the district when the current seniors were freshmen and have been competitive every year since.
Wilson believes this is the year they have a chance to go further than ever.
“They’ve just been getting better each and every year,” he said. “We’re just beginning to jell and start playing really good basketball. It was like tonight I just thought we came out and really executed some of the things we practiced on doing as far as strategy and scheme against Yazoo City.”
Wildcats season
comes to end
The Clarksdale High School boys once again advanced to the Class 4A playoffs, but fell at Corinth Tuesday night 56-51.
The Wildcats (13-15, 4-4) clinched a playoff spot with a 47-38 win at home against Yazoo City on senior night to close the regular season.
Kelley Jones led the way with 11 points, Dave Wilson had 10, Markevious Jackson had 9, Josh Hollins and Dexter Metcalf had 5 each, and Chris Brown contributed 2.
“That was a good win,” said Wildcats coach Farrington Hill. “That put us in third place, so we don’t have to play in that play-in game. That was a big victory.”
The Wildcats had to beat two higher seeds to earn the No. 3 spot during the regular season.
Hill credited assistant coach Gregory Neely Jr. for stepping up in a win at Greenwood.
“In my absence out at Greenwood, Coach Neely did an outstanding job because I was out with the flu. He got us a one-point victory at Greenwood, which is a tough place to win. All the credit goes to him because he put us in this place. Then, we came in, put our heads together and planned against the No. 1 team Yazoo, who’s a great team, been playing terrific ball, been competing and beating those 6A schools.”
Hill said his team played good defense and did not turn the ball over.
The Wildcats lost to Yazoo City in the district tournament 29-28 and Gentry High School 63-60 in double overtime.
