By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

ST. MARTIN — The St. Martin girls basketball team is headed back to the Class 7A “Elite Eight” for the second straight season.

The home-standing Lady Yellow Jackets mauled Meridian 61-35 in the opening round of the Class 7A South State playoffs Thursday night. The win pushes St. Martin to a nifty 24-5 overall on the season, but more importantly moves head coach Jason Kennedy’s crew into the quarterfinal round at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College late next week.

“The energy that these young ladies play with is inspiring,” Kennedy said. “We talk all the time about energy! Energy feeds energy whether negative or positive. This is one of the most fun groups I have ever had the pleasure to coach.”

St. Martin standout guard Kylenn Ward exploded out of the gate with 10 points in the first frame, and Kylah Jenkins nailed a 3-pointer early on as well as the home team grabbed a 19-15 lead after one quarter.

It was the second stanza when the Lady Yellow Jackets began to take control of the contest, as Ward dropped in six more points and Kiyara Lee added four points as SMHS out-scored the Lady Wildcats 15-3 in the quarter to stretch its advantage out to double digits at 34-18 at halftime.

It was more of the same for St. Martin in the third period, as it quickly laid to rest any hopes Meridian had of a big second half comeback. Yvette Nathan tallied eight points in the quarter and sophomore Emma Chester proved why she was just named “Sixth Man” of the year in Region 4-7A as she came off the bench to score five points including a triple and the Lady Yellow Jackets never looked back doubling up on their lead at 52-26 entering the final frame.

Ward led SMHS with 17 points, while sisters Kylah Jenkins and Kennedi Jenkins added 10 points apiece to the winning effort. Nathan finished with eight points.

Kylie Hughes scored 13 for MHS.

Last season, St. Martin made a deep playoff run that ended in the first-ever Class 7A Final Four at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson with a loss in the overall semifinal round.

However, Kennedy lost his top six performers from that team as five went on to play on the junior college level and his top returnee Kaleah Lowery suffered a season ending knee injury over the Summer.

“This was supposed to be a rebuilding year and not many thought we would be back in the Elite Eight but here we are,” Kennedy concluded. “And we credit it all to our effort.”