The Yazoo City Lady Indians traveled to Manila, Arkansas over the Christmas Break to participate in the Manila High School Big River Steel Christmas Tournament.
The Lady Indians dropped Game One, 60-36 to the host Manila Lady Lions and fell in Game Two, 49-44 to East Poinsette County before bouncing back to defeat Trumann, 62-34.
Yazoo City is now 7-12 on the season and is ready to begin district play.
“We played a very tough non-conference schedule and that was intentional. We are battle-tested after playing some of the top teams in the state like Canton, Northwest Rankin, Choctaw Central, and Madison Central,” said YHS head coach Joffre Washington. “We feel like we are prepared for anything our district opponents can throw at us after facing some of the early adversity we have.”
Yazoo City opened conference play Tuesday night on the road at Gentry and travels to Kosciusko this Friday.
In Game One of the Big River Steel Tournament, the Lady Lions of Manila proved to be a little too much for the Lady Indians to handle.
The Lady Indians were led in scoring by Lakyra Bankhead with 10 points followed by Makenzie Johnson with seven, Kimora Young with six, Jer’Mya Porter with five, Makeelah McCullum with four, and Malia Mcpherson and Ajyara Mitchell with two apiece.
The Lady Indians were on their way to victory in Game Two against East Poinsette County when disaster struck.
Yazoo City, who had been capitalizing on their scoring opportunities all game long, all of a sudden couldn’t get even the simplest of layups to fall. EPC rallied from a 38-32 third quarter deficit and went on a 17-6 run down the stretch to steal the win.
Bankhead was the only Lady Indian to reach double figures again, this time with a game-high 19 points.
Kalia Evans had nine, Porter chipped in with eight, Mcpherson added six, and Young had two.
With their backs against the wall, the Lady Indians were determined to avoid going 0-3 for the tournament in Game Three against Trumann.
Yazoo City led 25-22 at halftime but came out in the third quarter and put the game away with a 22-7 quarter. They kept the pressure on in the fourth and outscored Trumann 15-5 down the stretch to seal the win.
Porter led the way this time with 19 points and was named the Player of the Game for her efforts.
Bankhead joined her in double figures with 14. Other scorers were Evans with nine, McCullum with five, Young with four, India Finley with three, and Mcpherson and Shalen Evans with two apiece.
Bankhead was named to the All-Tournament Team.
