By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Munford forward Dejanae Potter avoids contact from Millington’s Sky Clark heading to the basket during first half action Friday night in the Munford Gymnasium.
Playing quality opponents like Covington and Dyersburg will help a team learn about itself quickly. In mid December, Steve Poindexter’s Munford Lady Cougars endured a tough weekend dropping a pair of games to the Lady Chargers and Lady Trojans respectively. Before another area rival, the Millington Lady Trojans arrived to town Friday night, Poindexter had a few days to practice with his team still figuring out it’s offensive identity. By the end of the night in the Munford Gymnasium, the Lady Cougars took a few steps forward offensively but once again used defense to prevail 49-11 over Millington. “We can improve on defense,” Poindexter said. “But right now that’s the strongest identity of our team right now. We had a really good week of practice. I think they’re figuring some things out offensively. They’re working hard to stay within the structure of our offense and getting some options from our offense.” Poindexter put an emphasis on improving offense after last week’s 43-29 loss to Dyersburg. The score was 28-26 late in the third quarter before the Lady Trojans of Dyer County proceeded with a 15-3 run the final 11 minutes. The Lady Cougars tallied 20 points in the first quarter against the Lady Trojans of Shelby County. Munford started the game with a 12-0 run with Alabama signee Gabby Crawford scoring 8 of those points. Her fellow Lady Cougar post members Dejanae Potter and Aliyah Lee added a bucket each. Millington guard Keyanna Jones ended the Lady Trojans’ drought with a drive to the rim for a bucket. The 12-2 Munford advantage grew to 20-2 with Crawford closing out the first period with 6 more points. Crawford assisted on the other basket locating Potter on the break. “Obviously we’ve got three post players who are threats,” Poindexter said. “It don’t take much and you don’t have to watch us very long to figure that out what is our strength — our size. We want to get the ball inside. “Our guards, with any team I’ve head, I expect you to take care of the ball,” he added. “And I hope that you can make open shots from the perimeter. The shots that we’re getting from the perimeter are wide open because they’re packing down the post. You are what you are. So we have to play toward our strength.” Munford scored 15 points in the second quarter with Lee making a pair of buckets in the paint giving the Lady Cougars a 24-2 lead. Crawford continued the Lady Cougar onslaught with an up-and-under move for a basket.
By the time Lee made another basket in the post the score was 28-2. The Lady Cougars outscored Millington 12-6 in the third quarter. Munford was able to get back on the winning track with the 49-11 victory.
