By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

JACKSON — if a team never takes a lead in a game it makes winning said game pretty tough to do.
And the St. Martin girl’s basketball team found that out firsthand at the most crucial time of the season Wednesday afternoon here at The Mississippi Coliseum.
The Lady Yellow Jackets fell behind quickly 7-0 and never totally recovered falling to Germantown 50-43 in the first-ever Class 7A Final Four Overall State Semifinal round. The Lady Mavericks led wire-to-wire in earning a trip to Saturday’s state championship contest where they’ll once again face Tupelo with a Gold Ball on the line.
St. Martin ends the season at 25-8. It marked just the second time in program history that the Lady Yellow Jackets had qualified for the Final Four in The Big House.

Second-year St. Martin head coach Jason Kennedy’s crew trailed by as much as nine points on six different occasions including to start off the fourth quarter, but St. Martin closed the gap to as few as three in the final minutes before the defending Class 6A state champion Germantown limited the damage and secured another trip to the title tilt.

“I’m so proud of this group,” Kennedy said, minutes after the tough loss. “The first word that comes to mind when I think of this group is tough We had a slow slow start today, and just couldn’t really get anything going in the first half. I told the girls no matter what happens I want our hearts to be full and our tanks to be empty when the final horn sounds. And I think they did just that. Maximum effort is what they give us every night we may not always execute perfectly but we know what kind of effort we are getting and I’m forever grateful for that.”

The Lady Mavericks stand 23-9 overall as they head to Saturday’s rematch against the Lady Wave, whom they beat last season for the state title.
Germantown set the tone quickly, jumping out to a fast 7-0 lead less than two minutes into the game as Miciah Satcher nailed a 3-pointer right off the bat and Julia Glasgow followed that with two straight baskets.
But after Kennedy called a time-out, St. Martin bounced back and reeled off an 11-6 spurt of its own capped off by a 3-pointer from Zee Allen that cut the deficit to just two points at 13-11 with two minutes to go in the opening period.

However, Ayla Benson drained a trey to end the frame, and the Lady Mavericks took a 16-11 lead into the second stanza.
Benson remained hot in the next period, as her second 3-pointer of the first half gave Germantown its biggest lead of the night at 22-13 a little less than midway through the second period. Thanks to eight points from Benson in the half, seven points from Glascow, and another trey from Satcher Germantown maintained that nine-point advantage at halftime 25-16.
St. Martin opened the second half on a 6-0 run that included a 3-pointer from Mia Morrow, and the deficit once again dwindled to just three points at 25-22 at the 4:33 mark of the third frame.
But again, the Lady Mavericks had an answer as they went on an 8-2 run of their own that ended with an old-fashioned three-point play from Satcher and the lead was back to nine at 38-29 three minutes later. Germantown led again by that nine-point advantage heading into the final quarter at 41-32.
St. Martin had one last gasp of energy in an attempt to keep its season alive, opening the fourth frame on an 8-2 run. When Kaleah Lowery made a move inside the lane for a short jump shot the Lady Yellow Jackets had closed the gap to 43-39 with 4:29 to go.

The Lady Yellow Jackets got a basket two minutes later from Mia Morrow to make it 44-41. But Germantown’s Alana Rouser, a 6-foot senior Dandy Dozen standout whom St. Marin held in check for most of the first three quarters, sank back-to-back baskets at just the right moment for the Lady Mavericks to help seal the win.

Morrow paced SMHS with 14 points, while Kylenn Ward added nine points and Teairra Lee eight points in the loss.

Benson had a game-high 18 points for GHS.