It was back and forth between the Clarksdale girls basketball team and division rival Greenwood Friday night.
The Lady Wildcats (12-6, 3-1) defended their home court and pulled off a 55-52 overtime victory in the final moments to take second place in the district for the moment.
Following a steal and basket, the Lady Bulldogs took a 52-51 lead with 1:06 remaining in overtime.
However, two free Alexis Moore free throws with 41.4 seconds remaining and another two from Patrice Broomfield with 32.8 seconds remaining following a steal gave Clarksdale a 55-52 lead.
A jump ball gave Greenwood possession with 4.5 seconds remaining in the contest, but they had to go the full length of the court following a timeout.
Greenwood missed a 3-point field goal attempt in the final moments securing the victory for the Lady Wildcats.
Broomfield finished with 15 points after not scoring in the first half, A’Myiah Fizer had 12 and Tameria Daniels had 10.
In spite of being able to come out with the victory, Lady Wildcats coach Greg Wilson felt his team could have performed better.
“I think we made the last runs, but I think we just made too many mistakes,” he said. “With a team like ours, we have to do more right than wrong — execution, staying together and making plays. When you can’t do those things, you allow the team to stay in the game and make the run.”
While Clarksdale made the key free throws in overtime, several foul shots were missed during the fourth quarter that could have won the game for the Lady Wildcats.
But, in overtime, Clarksdale had the opportunity to foul Greenwood in the final seconds and force the Lady Bulldogs, already in the bonus, to go to the line.
Forcing Greenwood to shoot free throws would have taken away a 3-point opportunity, but Wilson recognized fouling also could have had negative consequences for the Lady Wildcats.
“We thought about that (fouling Greenwood), but when you do that and foul, they make the first one and have a chance to get an offensive rebound and put it back and still tie it up,” Wilson said. “So we put a little pressure on the ball.”
Wildcats fall to Greenwood 47-41
The Clarksdale High School boys got off to a quick start at home against Greenwood on Friday night jumping out to a 15-11 lead following a Kevin Smith steal, fast break and dunk with 6:04 remaining in the first half.
The Bulldogs called a timeout and closed the half on an 11-3 run to take a 22-18 halftime lead en route to a 47-41 victory.
Greenwood led 41-31 with less than two minutes to play, but the Wildcats (6-12, 1-2) went on a 9-2 run points to cut the deficit to 43-40. Markevious Jackson connected on a 3-pointer during the run, but the Wildcats could not pull even.
Jackson finished with 17 points including four 3-pointers, while Chris Allen contributed 10 points.
Clarksdale coach Farrington Hill was not pleased with the way his team only played well in spurts.
“We fought hard the first half,” he said. “The second half, especially the third quarter until probably the last two minutes, they wanted it more than us. They outhustled us. They played harder than us. They wanted it more than we did.
“We tried to put a little run together at the end, but they made free throws and we didn’t make free throws. We make those free throws and we might force overtime or something. We can’t keep playing like that. If we don’t find some way to start playing with heart, our season is going to be over real quick.”
Hill said effort was the problem, not lack of execution.
“We showed some effort in the first half, but from the beginning of the third until the last two minutes of the fourth, they showed no effort,” Hill said. “They got the 50-50 balls. They were pounding on the board. They were jumping three or four times getting offensive rebounds.”
