By TAYLOR MITCHELL
Sports Editor

For the first time this season the Raiders of Benton Academy left a basketball gym with a win.
Monday night the Raiders overcame a seven-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat Sharkey-Issaquena 42-39 in Benton.
In the pivotal final quarter of play, Benton’s offense came to life with 13 points while the defense shut down the visitors, allowing just three points.
Both Sharkey and Benton got off to slow starts in the first quarter with each team scoring four points. Sharkey took the lead within the next eight minutes with 19 points. The Raiders managed to score 12 points in the second quarter to trail 23-16 at halftime.
After halftime both squads match each other point-for-point with each side posting 13 points to their total, setting up the Raiders’ fourth quarter comeback victory.
Chase Ward and William Jones led Benton in scoring with six points each and Bo Dickerson was second with three points.
While the boys’ game provided enough drama for an entire week’s worth of games, the earlier game wasn’t as dramatic.
Sharkey-Issaquena jumped out to a 15-13 lead in the first quarter and never looked back, winning 65-54 on Benton’s home court.
While the outcome wasn’t what Benton wanted, there were bright spots including Sarah Burdine’s 17 points. Nora Grace Davis was second on the team with 15 points while Jenny Reynolds had 12.
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Senior Ashanti Spencer had a team-high 16 points in a 54-47 victory over Cleveland Monday night.By TAYLOR MITCHELL
Sports Editor

On a day of mourning for the entire Yazoo County High School community, the Panthers and Lady Panthers honored the loss of fellow student David Edwards with a pair of wins Monday night on their home court.
The Lady Panthers and Panthers both had to hold off late rallies by Cleveland to prevail with the girls winning 54-47 and the boys 55-52.
“I thought we played well until the end. We did everything right until the end and then our youth showed up,” Yazoo County head coach Patrick Nutter said. “They were scared of the ball. They wanted to throw it to the senior and let her do everything.. You’re up 17 late in the game, you’re forcing them to come out and play you and we’re making all the mistakes.”
Thanks to a 19-point second quarter, the Lady Panthers led Cleveland 24-15 at halftime. Yazoo County expanded its lead to 15 points by the end of the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Wildcats 13-7. However, in the fourth quarter, things got interesting.
The Lady Panthers had turned the ball over too many times for Nutter’s liking in the first three quarters and it continued into the fourth quarter.
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Senior quarterback Dazmon Wright (right) and junior receiver Chris Smith (left) were selected to the 5A All State football team Monday.By TAYLOR MITCHELL
Sports Editor

On Monday afternoon the All State football selections for both the MHSAA and MAIS were released. The teams, compiled by the head coaches across the state, included a pair of Yazoo City standouts.
Senior quarterback Dazmon Wright was selected to the 5A first team offense and junior receiver Chris Smith was placed on the second team offense.
Smith proved to be one of the best receivers in the Magnolia State. Smith had 38 receptions for 1,164 yards and 12 touchdowns. He averaged over 100 yards per game and just above 30 yards per reception. Smith also had an impact returning kicks and punts, returning the ball for over 200 yards and one touchdown.
Smith ranks fifth among all receivers in the state and second in 5A. He was the top junior receiver in 5A.
Wright’s best performance of the season came in week two against Humphreys County when he threw for 150 yards on just five completions and three touchdowns, two of which went to Smith.

The Mitchell ReportMost people who know me know that basketball isn’t my favorite sport. Football, of course, is. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy covering basketball. In fact, it’s probably one of the sports I’m best at covering.
I have even  more fun when the games are close. So, Monday night was sort of a fun night for me.
It began with watching Yazoo County girls’ defeat Cleveland (a team I covered heavily the past four years), but not before the Lady Wildcats made things interesting.
The Lady Panthers at one point held a 17-point lead, but watched it evaporate into a nine-point lead with less than a minute to play. In basketball, once you cut a lead to single-digits anything is possible (I.e. Kansas beating Memphis in the national title game a few years back). So, instead of heading out a little early to go to Yazoo City’s second game of the night, I stuck around to see what would happen.
Like many other games I’ve seen, the Lady Panthers held off the late game rally to win 54-47. What I didn’t realize at the time was that was the first of many fourth quarter comebacks I would either see or hear about Monday night (sorry Benton, I know you guys had a great game, but so did Yazoo City).
Before continuing, I don’t like missing any part of a game. So, when I walked into Yazoo City’s gym to see a 17-16 score at halftime I was a little upset. That didn’t last too long, though.
The Indians and Clinton played a great, defensive battle. Something you don’t see much anymore.
Yazoo City had a chance to win it late, but couldn’t capitalize on their chances.
It was a good night to be covering sports in Yazoo .