Holcomb cruises past South Pemiscot at Bootheel Conference Tournament

The No. 2 seeded Holcomb girls basketball team (10-9) has now won four games in a row and they hope to keep going and advance in the Bootheel Conference Tournament following Friday night’s 49-35 win over No. 7 South Pemiscot (2-8).

As with most teams at the tournament, Holcomb’s last game was last Thursday and the team hadn’t picked up a ball together in five days. While the Hornets started the game strong, that break was apparent to head coach Alexa Stockton.

“Nobody’s shot, nobody’s been running up and down the floor, we all look like we’re just in slow motion,” Stockton said after the game. “So hopefully that game got us out of it because I felt like we were grooving for a little bit before this happened.”

Kickstarted by a three-pointer by Ava Gurley, Holcomb put up five unanswered points in the opening minutes of the matchup. South Pemiscot’s Jakeya Jones put in a layup to score for the first time for the Bulldogs after four minutes had ticked by.

Gurley answered it immediately with another three point shot, though. Before the end of the first quarter, the Bulldogs put in two consecutive layups to minimize damage but Holcomb would lead 12-5 at the buzzer.

Starting the second quarter, the Hornets’ numerous three point attempts wouldn’t fall, but they still paced the Bulldogs in rebounding and eventually took a 23-12 advantage at halftime. By the end of the first half the Hornets found a rhythm – rather, Kaetlyn Danley found her stride as she put in two consecutive three-pointers to prevent the Bulldogs from coming back.

“A lot has to be worked on before tomorrow, but we don’t have time for that,” Stockton said. “We looked like we hadn’t played in five days and hadn't picked up a ball. But that’s not an excuse because it’s the same with everybody else.”

South Pemiscot's Ta'Kylah Wooden lines up a shot in the Bootheel Conference Tournament opener against Holcomb Friday night. Christian Johnson, Delta Dunklin Democrat

While the Hornets may not have been playing their best basketball all year, they did lead in rebounding by a significant margin. And just a minute and 15 seconds into the second half after Holcomb had already scored five points, South Pemiscot took a timeout to discuss just that – rebounding the ball.

Following a three-pointer put in by Holcomb’s Chloe Hendrix, South Pemiscot cut their deficit to ten points, Holcomb leading 31-21, with less than three minutes remaining.

The Hornets outscored South Pemiscot 15-12 in the fourth quarter, the majority of Holcomb’s points coming in free throws. By the end of the night, Holcomb took what, according to Stockton, will hopefully be a confidence boost to get back on track.

“A win is a win at the end of the day, and in the conference you’re just looking to advance every night,” Stockton said. “Hopefully that’s our one game and we can kick it into gear tomorrow because we’ll have to to beat one of these teams.”

Holcomb was led in scoring by Kaetlyn Danley with 23 points. She was followed up by both Maleigh Lemings and Ava Gurley with eight apiece, Chloe Hendrix with six and Libbey Callis with two.

Ta’Kylah Wooden paced the Bulldogs as the game’s highest scorer with a total of 28 points, followed by Ayleigh Farmer with five and Mataiya Phillips with two.

Holcomb will advance to play against Malden Saturday at 2:15 p.m.