By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

ST. MARTIN —This week’s “Baria Law Firm Game Ball of the Week” goes to St. Martin’s Kylenn Ward as presented by SouthMiss6 Sports.

Every week throughout the end of the school year, we will honor student/athletes across the “Southern Six” with our “Game Ball of the Week” sponsored by David Baria, Attorney-Mediator.

Ward, a junior standout point guard, has helped her Lady Yellow Jackets to not only back-to-back 20-win seasons the past two years but also to two straight appearances in the first ever Class 7A South State Quarterfinal Round. Ward and SMHS face Northwest Rankin Friday afternoon at 4 p.m., at Dantzler Arena in Perkinston on the campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College with a trip to the overall Class 7A Final Four on the line.

St. Martin mauled Meridian 61-35 in the opening round of the Class 7A South State playoffs late last week. The win pushed St. Martin to a nifty 24-5 overall on the season, after the Lady Yellow Jackets finished last year at 23-8 and fell in the Final four at “The Big House” in Jackson.

In the latest win, 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.

Ward led SMHS with 17 points. For the season, she leads the Lady Yellow Jackets in points at 17 per game, and steals with just over six per contest. She also pulls down six rebounds and dishes out five assists per game.

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