Patrick Ervin
Special to the DD-T
Something had to give Friday night when the undefeated Greenville High Honeybees hosted the unblemished Coahoma County Red Panthers. After a turnover plagued evening the Honeybees moved to 6-0 and gave Coahoma County (5-1) its first loss, a 68-63 overtime thriller. Greenville High led most of the night but had trouble pulling away despite having a 27-13 lead in the second quarter.
Coahoma County took its first lead of the game at 58-56 with 14 seconds remaining on the clock when Nyria Artis made a short bank shot from in front of the hoop. The Honeybees immediately raced down the court and put up three shot attempted before senior guard Jeanae Anderson made a layup as time expired in regulation. Pumping her fist in exusent the game into an overtime tie at 58. “Our guards showed their experience and stepped up for us tonight,” said Honeybees head coach Dakedreon Lampkin. “We were kind of rattled at different times throughout the game and our guards’ experience and leadership made the difference.” Greenville High saw its fourth quarter lead dwindle as Red Pathers forward Nikia Cheatham established herself down low playing a little bully ball with the Honeybees interior players. She went on a personal 8-0 run midway through the fourth quarter. “We didn’t do a good job of keeping her off her spots,” Lampkin said. “When a good player like that gets to her spots, it’s almost impossible to stop them,”
In the third quarter, six different Honeybees scored and they started to figure out Coahoma County’s pressure defense. Offensive rebounding kept the visitors close as the home team led 46-40 after three quarters.
The game was tight early on as the Honeybees clung to a 9-7 lead until about the four minute mark of the first stanza. At this juncture Jakayla Williams nailed three of four shots from distance to put Greenville High up 19-9 after one quarter of play.
Both teams offense had trouble finding the basket early in the second quarter. Despite double digit turnovers in the second quarter, the Honeybees maintained a double digit lead. However, Coahoma County made two consecutive three point shots in the final minute of the first half to cut the lead to 31-25 at halftime. The Honeybees will be back in action Saturday when it hosts Humphreys County High.
