Lady Rockets adance to Class 5A playoffs in basketball

The Neshoba Central Lady Rockets placed second in last week's Region 3-5A tournament.

The Lady Rockets opened the tournament last week with a 47-46 victory over Cleveland Central. They then dropped a 48-45 heart-breaker to Holmes County Central in the championship game and placed second in the region. Neshoba Central was to host Center Hill Monday night. The winner will advance to the second round on Friday.

The season came to an end for the Neshoba Central Rockets. They dropped 55-51 decision to Cleveland Central on Monday. In an elimination game, the Rockets lost a 62-61 decision to Canton High on Friday.



Lady Rockets

After advancing past Cleveland Central, the Lady Rockets found themselves in a tough battle with Holmes Central.

Neshoba Central led 13-11 in the first quarter. The Lady Jaguars came back to outscore Neshoba Central 9-7 and the score was tied at 20-20 at the half.

Neshoba Central would outscore the Lady Jaguars 16-11 in the third quarter and carried a 36-31 lead into the final quarter. But Holmes came back to outscore the Lady Rockets 17-9 in the final stanza. Neshoba Central hit a shot to tie the score at 45-45. But Holmes came back down the court and hit a three-point shot at the buzzer.

Hama'ya Fielder led the Lady Rockets with 13 points and Veronica Williams added nine.

Fielder also scored 27 points in the earlier game against Cleveland Central.





Rockets

The Rockets' final game went down to the wire against Canton.

The Rockets missed 12 free throws in their final game.

Canton led 16-13 after the first quarter. The Rockets fought back to outscored the Tigers 14-11 in the second quarter and the score was tied a 27-27 at the break.

Neshoba Central carried a 41-40 lead into the final quarter. The Jaguars outscored the Rockets 22-20 and took the win.

Coby McMillan led the Rockets with 27 points while Bryceton Spencer added 14 and Jacob McMillan put in 13.

"I want to thank our seniors for their hard work and sticking with it," Coach Jerry Byrd said. "They were freshmen on the team that played for state, and they have had some good playoff runs, too."