The last time South Jones played Laurel in girls basketball, the year was 2017. South Jones won the contest easily, defeating Laurel by 21-points in Hattiesburg’s Christmas Tournament.
Three days later, in 2018, the Lady Braves won again. South Jones held off Laurel Tuesday night inside Laurel’s gymnasium in a much closer contest, 59-52, to win its Region 5-5A opener.
“I told our girls in walk-through that Laurel was going to come after us,” said South Jones head coach Sherri Cooley. “We played them a few days ago, so they were familiar with us, of course, we were with them too, but I knew they would come after us hard and be ready for us this time. And they were.”
Laurel outscored South Jones 18-14 in the first period – a total of six Lady Tornadoes score buckets in the early quarter. Kristian Edwards, who finished with a team-high 16 points, led Laurel with six points in the first quarter.
South Jones rallied in the following period, finishing the final minutes of the second period on a 6-1 run to tied the game 26-26 at the half.
Leading rebounder Endia Holliday fell into early foul trouble for South Jones and was limited to 10 points in the contest.
“I challenged Endia at halftime to come out and play her game,” said Cooley. “I thought she made the difference in the third quarter. With us gaining the lead, she came in and rebounded defensively and even scored a few points.”
South Jones led by as many as 12 in the third period, before closing out the quarter with a 10-point over Laurel, 42-32.
Held to just eight points in the third period, Laurel made a late charge in the final quarter. The Lady Tornadoes scored 18 in the final stanza but was nearly matched point-for-point by South Jones, who scored 17 in the period to hold on for the 59-52 win.
“This was a tough one for us,” Cooley said. “ But I knew it was going to be. Coach [Alphaka] Moore does a good job of getting her girls ready to play. So we’re fortunate to come out of this game with a win.”
Freshman Mackenzie Thomas led South Jones with 18 points, while junior Kelsi Jackson finished with 17.
Zoey Cooley and Mia Moore also scored in double digits for Laurel with 12 and 10, respectively.
South Jones improves to 16-1 on the season and 1-0 in Region 5-5A.
Laurel falls to 3-9 overall and 0-1 in region play.
