Senior Ashanti Spencer played her final game of her high school career for the Lady Panthers with a 69-40 loss to Pontotoc during the first round of the 4A North State Tournament Monday night.By TAYLOR MITCHELL
Sports Editor

PONTOTOC – After clinching a spot in the North 4A state tournament last week, the Lady Panthers of Yazoo County saw their time at the tournament cut short when they fell to North Pontotoc 69-40.
“They shot the ball extremely hard,” Lady Panthers head coach Patrick Nutter said. “We didn’t defend very well either.”
The Lady Warriors (29-0) wasted no time in establishing their dominance over Yazoo County, exploding out of the gates for a 22-10 lead after just eight minutes of play. Things wouldn’t get much better in the second quarter as the Lady Panthers fell to victim to a stingy Pontotoc defense, scoring just three points before entering halftime trailing 37-13.
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Senior Mary Moses Hitt led the Lady Mavericks in scoring during the North AA State Tournament against Central Hinds. Manchester lost 60-39.By TAYLOR MITCHELL
Sports Editor

BATESVILLE – It’s been a season full of close, exciting games for the Lady Mavericks. However, good things must come to an end. Manchester saw its season come to a close Monday night during the first round of the north AA state tournament against Central Hinds, 60-39.
“We played good in spurts, but not good at other times,” Manchester head coach Tamara Faulkner said. “They put a man on Maggie (Hughes) and Kristen (Morris) and we couldn’t really get our offense going.
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The Mitchell ReportAs a sports fan, I’m always reading articles on the Internet and watching SportsCenter highlights until I fall asleep. Sometimes I come across things that are completely stupid. Other times there I find myself asking who cares.
Then there are other times that are interesting, unique and great to read. Those articles are the ones I try and localize so that I may write my own column using their idea.
Here goes another one.
Sports Illustrated’s Joe Poznan’s (winner of the 2011 National Sports Writer of the Year) recently wrote a column for SI.com, titled For Your Soul, that made me wonder for hours and I still haven’t come up with my answer.
The premise is this: You’re trapped for eternity in rush hour traffic in downtown Dallas and the only thing on the radio being played is Justin Beiber. The devil offers you one chance at leaving the traffic for a beach in Hawaii, unlimited bar and a big-screen television with every channel imaginable.
The deal was you can pick any athlete in his prime and what sport they’d play. The devil, on the other hand, sets the terms. Posnanski’s example is you might choose Mike Tyson in his youth (prior to the ear-biting) and boxing, but the devil can pick Ali, when he was young and knittable, in a big ring. (If a team sport is chosen the rest of the team is filled with random individuals of equal talent.)
Get the idea?
Now, so this makes sense for a Yazoo City newspaper, let’s limit this idea to just high school players from Yazoo County. You get to choose a player from when they played high school in Yazoo, but the devil gets to set the terms.
For instance, you could pick Manchester’s Maggie Hughes and running, but the devil could turnaround and pick the former Benton star Annalee Pierce and have the face off in a marathon. What would you think of that race?
Or you may pick Fletcher Cox and football, but the devil picks Matt Peaster and the game is played in the New Orleans Superdome for its fast turf (remember, the other 20 players are equally talented).
Would you be confident in either of those choices to get out of the eternity of downtown Dallas rush hour? Having lived in Dallas for nearly 18 years, you may want to choose wisely (especially if you think Yazoo gets busy at 5 p.m.).
It can be any sport and any athlete. The only restriction is the athlete had to of played their high school days in Yazoo county.
Who would you pick? It’s not easy is it? Whatever you choose though, I’d love to hear it. Send me an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with the athlete you’d want to send you to that beach in Hawaii where the drinks are free.
I’ll even go first.
I’d pick Manchester’s Mary Moses Hitt and tennis. I don’t care who the devil sends out or what type of surface the match is played on. An undefeated tennis player is an undefeated tennis player.
I look forward to reading your selections while I work on my tan, drinking my free drink.
Taylor Mitchell is the sports editor of The Yazoo Herald. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Senior Corey Cox had a plethora of exciting plays during the season, but there wasn’t much excitement after last week’s 42-38 loss to Canton that ended the Indians’s season much earlier than expected.By TAYLOR MITCHELL
Sports Editor

PHILADELPHIA – Normally this time of year Archie Carlyle is watching game film or preparing a game plan for the next playoff game one of his Yazoo City squads is about to play in. It’s been that way for nearly a decade. Today, though, Carlyle isn’t sure what to do with his time after his Indians fell to Canton 42-38 in the first round of the region 3-5A tournament, ending Yazoo City’s season.
“It’s pretty devastating. I haven’t had both of my teams’ seasons over with this early,” Carlyle said. “We didn’t do what we normally did and that was be aggressive. I think we played passive; we played not to lose.”
Yazoo City had played Canton three times earlier in the season and had won each meeting.
“They’re a good team, but didn’t give us much problems,” Carlyle said. “Beating a team four times in a season is tough.”
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