C2D1 GBB: Hayti rallies late for thriller over host Wildcats

BLOOMFIELD – The 2022-23 girl’s basketball season hasn’t been what fans of Hayti High School have grown accustomed to in recent seasons, but there have been signs of the Indians returning to form throughout this month, and that continued on Tuesday, as Hayti got past host Bloomfield in the opening round of the MSHSAA Class 2 District 1 Tournament 42-41.

“We’ve struggled to score the basketball, pretty much all year,” Indian coach Cody Carpenter said following the win. I knew that if we didn’t turn the ball over and we got rebounds, we could win this game pretty easily.

“But we didn’t do those two things.”

The Indians (8-16) found themselves trailing in the final minutes, but were aggressive offensively AND defensively, which allowed them to overtake the Wildcats.

Hayti got drives from junior guard Carmen Rhines, senior forward Treazure Johnson, and sophomore guard Taaron Larry, with Rhines and Larry getting to the free throw line, which allowed the Indians to tie the game at 40 with less than a minute remaining.

“I told them that our defense would make our defense better,” Carpenter said. “So we started picking up our defense and it made our offensive shots start going in.”

Off a late missed free throw, Johnson grabbed an offensive board and got the ball to Larry, who drove and put in a hoop for a 42-40 advantage.

Following a Bloomfield (9-15) timeout, the Wildcats got a drive and foul drawn by sophomore forward Abbigail Heaton, who pulled her team to within one with seven seconds remaining, by calmly sinking the first free throw, but the second one was short and Hayti grabbed the rebound for the win.

“We started to get mentally tough,” Carpenter continued on his late defensive pressure. “I’m real big on defense and our team is really big on defense.”

After enjoying four winning seasons in a row, including a Class 2 District 1 championship in 2019, the Indians dropped off offensively by nearly 20 points per game. However, Carpenter’s group was as solid defensively this year as the program has been over its recent run of success.

“We haven’t scored great,” Carpenter said, “so we relied mainly on our defense. That is what teams have to plan for, is to get around our defense, because we have a lot of athletes.

“If we don’t foul, and stay in front of (opponents), our defense is one of the best around.”

The Indians, which have won five of their past eight games, were paced by seniors Johnson and Kanasia Borders, both of whom scored a team-best 14 points.

“She has been one of my consistently hard-working players all year,” Carpenter said of Johnson. “She is a senior and she works hard. She knew how important this game was.

“She got down for a second, but I told her that if she wanted to win this game, then she was going to have to take over a little bit on offense. She took over and I’m so proud of her.”

Borders sank four 3-pointers, while Rhines finished with six points.

Bloomfield capped an outstanding season, which was the most successful in the brief history of the program.

Sophomore Kaelyn Conner had 12 points for the Wildcats, while Heaton finished with 11.

Bloomfield also got eight points from junior guard Mollianne Dodd.

Hayti moves on to the semifinals, where it will battle Neelyville (16-8) on Thursday at 6 p.m.