All Sharon Murray could do in the late third and early fourth period was watch and pray. Or so the West Jones girls basketball coach said jokingly.
It was shaping up to be March 3, 2017, all over again. West Jones led West Point by double-digits in that playoff game, only to see the season slip away in the third period on a huge West Point run.
Friday afternoon, with another double-digit lead in the third period, Murray watched as this season’s quarterfinal round opponent Holmes County Central tried to do the same.
West Jones withstood Holmes County Central’s attempt in the second half and advanced to next week’s MHSAA Class 5A girls semifinal round with a 59-50 win at Jackson State University.
“I did a lot of praying on the sideline, to be honest,” said Murray with a laugh. “I had to make our girls realize that it’s not all on one person’s shoulder. I told them to keep getting stops and try to remain confident because we still had the lead. I told them not to panic and just focus.”
The 15-point lead West Jones held midway through the third quarter had diminished to four just minutes into the fourth period.
“Holmes got real physical with us around the third and fourth quarter,” said Murray. “We just had to get tougher and withstand their run. We had to concentrate on taking care of the ball and not make them make us throw it away.”
West Jones outscored Holmes in the final period 17-12 to win the contest.
Holmes finished on top 16-13 at the end of the first period. A more forceful defense and baskets from turnovers swung the game in West Jones’ favor. They finished ahead of Holmes in the remaining three periods.
“Turnovers were key,” said Murray. “We were able to get some transition buckets from them. Our girls almost forgot that they had to run their fast-break. But once we did, we started to get some easy lanes and layups that we needed. It helped stop their runs and put some points on the board for us.”
Sophomore forward Brikayla Gray led West Jones with 21 points. Junior point-guard Jurnee McLaurin finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, eight of which came on defense.
“McLaurin had a pretty good game,” Murray said. “She got injured early and hurt her thumb. I think that kept her from scoring more than she did. She did a great job of taking care of the ball, scoring and getting rebounds.
“I had Brikayla on an offensive task today so that kept her from rebounding as she normally would. She did a good job of containing No. 3 for them and scoring baskets on fast-breaks.”
West Jones shot 65.6 percent from the free-throw line and 38 percent from the floor.
The Lady Mustangs (25-3) will play Ridgeland (23-5) next Tuesday night at 5:30 p.m. at the Jackson Coliseum.
