Sometimes the difference in the outcome in a game between rivals comes down to the home court or home field advantage.
During last Friday's matchup between Yazoo City and Yazoo County in the first round of their annual matchup on the hardwood, the Lady Panthers and Panthers almost used their "home court advantage" to post a pair of wins over Yazoo City. In the end, however, both the Lady Indians and Indians were able to ward off comebacks and escape with victories.
The Lady Indians pulled out a 30-28 win while the Indians posted a 55-47 victory. Both Yazoo City squads improved to 8-3. The Lady Panthers dropped to 6-3 on the season and the Panthers fell to 2-7.
"Whenever these two teams play it's going to be exciting. You can throw out the records because they don't mean a thing," said Yazoo City Lady Indians head coach Joffre Washington. "It was a low-scoring, defensive ball game. They made a run at the end after we left the door open for them with a few mistakes, but we were able to regroup and pull out the win. They are a well-coached, balanced team and I know Coach Demus is going to make her adjustments before this Friday's game. We're going to have to be ready. Luckily we were able to steal that one on the road. Next time we'll have the crowd advantage in our favor."
The Lady Panthers jumped out to a 7-4 first quarter lead but the Lady Indians outscored them 8-2 in the second quarter to take a 12-9 lead at the half. Yazoo City would hold on to the lead for the majority of the second half until the Lady Panthers made a run late in the fourth quarter.
Fortunately, the Lady Indians were able to get enough stops to secure the win despite an off-night from leading scorer E'kemii Johnson. Johnson, who averages 24 points a night, was held to a season-low 11, thanks in large part to the defensive pressure of Yazoo County's LaDaisha Taylor.
Fortunately for the Lady Indians, Lakyra Bankhead stepped up with eight, Torletta Johnson had six (on a pair of three-pointers), Jermya Porter had three and I'liciona White had two.
Jakayla Washington was the leading scorer for Yazoo County with a game-high 14 points. Taylor added six, Jamariah Barton had five, and Kamillia Jones rounded out the scoring with three.
