By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director
JACKSON — Just a quick point about the match-up between Harrison Central and Starkville in the Class 7A girls state championship basketball game Friday night should reveal just how things went down for the Red Rebelettes.
The Lady Yellowjackets led 11-5 at the end of the first quarter, while HCHS didn’t reach 11 points until there was about one minute left in the third frame.
Thusly, Starkville went on to a comfortable 39-22 win in the battle for the Gold Ball in the largest classification in the state here at The Mississippi Coliseum.

The decision leaves the Lady Yellowjackets at 30-3 overall on the season, and delivers the sixth state title to the campus of the school that sits just in the shadow of Mississippi State University. Harrison Central, meanwhile, was denied its 14th overall state crown and ends the campaign at 27-6.

“”It was a great lesson for us,” HCHS head coach Sandra Rushing said. “One of our goals was to get to Jackson, and we did that. I’m not happy with our performance tonight, but we’re young. Im very proud of this team. Nobody expected us to be here, but we got here and won a game.”
Starkville fell to Tupelo in the state finals last year, and head coach Matt Wilbanks and his crew seemed intent all season long on reversing that outcome and taking home the first state championship since 2018 for the program.
Starkville’s Jada gay, a 6-foot-4 Southern Miss signee and this year’s “Class 7A Miss Basketball”, seemed focused on setting the tone for just that early on, as she scored nine of those first period points, including a 3-pointer, and SHS took a quick lead it would never relinquish.

Harrison Central, which opened the contest with a six minute scoring drought, repeated that unfortunate feat as thee second stanza opened and Starkville took advantage with a 9-0 run, including both a trey and an old-fashioned three-point play from Jade Brown, and SHS steadily extended the lead out to 21-9 at halftime.
The Red Rebelettes never cut the deficit below double digits in the second half.

Entering the fourth period, HCHS had 13 turnovers to just six for Starkville. The SHS lead reached 21 at one point.

Gay tallied a game-high 15 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead the way for the Lady Yellowjackets, while Zariah Brown chipped in 12 points to the game-winning effort.

Gay and her 6-foot-4 twin tower partner Jada Brown helped the Lady Yellowjackets control the boards all night.

P.J. Floyd had e11 points for Harrison Central, and the SHS defense held center Saniyah Murray to just six points.

The Red Rebelettes were forced to wear their shoot around uniforms after there was a mix-up between the two teams over who was the designated visiting team.