POPLARVILLE — For three quarters, the Devilettes hung right with the undefeated West Lowndes Lady Panthers Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the MHSAA Class 1A girls state basketball tournament at Pearl River Community College.
But, in the fourth quarter, the Lady Panthers flexed their senior muscle to help them defeat Simmons High School 66-49.
Led by sophomore Taylor Lucas-Howard’s 24 points, the Simmons (24-5) girls went toe to toe with the Lady Panthers, who moved their record to 25-0, for the first 24 minutes of the game. Simmons junior Nicole Maybell helped the Devilettes trail by just eight points heading into the final quarter by scoring nine points in the game.
Simmons coach Bernita Alexander gave the Lady Panthers total credit for pulling the game away.
“Even though they had some players with foul trouble, the ones who came in and replaced them all played together,” Coach Alexander said. “West Lowndes is a good team and they run a good system.”
West Lowndes will meet Pine Grove in the state semifinals Monday in Jackson. Pine Grove, which has won the last three state championships, defeated Simmons in the state finals last season.
If there was one lament for Simmons this season it would be the team’s overtime loss to Shaw on Feb. 14 in the District 1A-6 championship game. The loss to Shaw placed the Devilettes on the same side of the bracket of both West Lowndes and Pine Grove, making a return trip to the state title game much tougher this season.
While Coach Alexander said she was disappointed in Thursday’s loss, she said she was nothing but optimistic about the future for her girls. While the Devilettes will definitely miss the senior leadership of Vereisha Robinson, Jy’Nicia Brady and Nikkia Douglas, Simmons will have plenty of talent on their team next season as they hope to make another run towards Jackson.
Leading the charge will likely be Lucas-Howard who led her team in scoring this season with more than 16 points per game.
Carl’Kaisha Lucas will also be back for her junior season. Lucas tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during the district tournament and was unable to play the rest of the season. Lucas is expected to make a full recovery in time for next season.
Na’Riah Robinson, the second leading scorer on the Devilettes, will also return as a senior. Coach Alexander also expects players like Taliyah Edwards, Jamia Ford and Aaliyah Esco to make a lot of improvement during the offseason. Edwards will be a sophomore next season, while Ford and Esco will be freshmen.
“The future looks bright, and I definitely believe that we can get back to Jackson next season,” Coach Alexander said.
