By Thomas Sellers Jr.
Several freshmen took to the court Friday night in Millington. Both the Munford Lady Cougars and Millington Lady Trojans feature ninth grade talent looking to get used to the varsity level of basketball. Bruce Marshall’s Lady Trojans came out with some fight scoring 10 points in the opening period. But Steve Poindexter’s Lady Cougars posted a 20-spot on the William Osteen Gymnasium scoreboard after 8 minutes. That lead grew over the next three quarters with Munford winning the game 53-32. “We’ve got four freshmen and two sophomores playing a whole bunch of minutes,” Poindexter noted. “Our goal is to get better every day and to be playing our best basketball a month or two from today. It’s all about the effort and how we get better together. I think as this group continues to play, the chemistry will increase. “Our kids work hard, they’re listening and they’re eager to get better,” he added. “I think we’ve got a group of kids who want to be here. The ones that don’t are not here. I’m proud that they are welling to work hard and they fight for you.” The Lady Trojans were displaying fight entering the second quarter by grabbing several offensive rebounds. But the ball just wouldn’t go through the net. ‘We’re not going to win too many games giving up that many offensive rebounds,” Poindexter said. “No matter what kids of defense we’re playing, a point of emphasis being undersize you’ve got trap down in the post and get it out of the paint. And all five have to block out, we have to play position basketball.” The Lady Cougars needed to create more separation. Guards Mary Richardson and Miaya Reed came to the rescue with drives to the rim to make the Munford advantage 28-12. Micaiah Halliburton hit a jumper to stop the Millington drought. After the Lady Trojans scored 3 more points, Reed hit a foul shot to get her team back on track. The Lady Cougars were ahead 33-18 at halftime. Reed tallied 6 more points in the third quarter helping her team surge ahead 47-25 entering the fourth quarter. Millington outscored Munford 7-6 in the final period. But the Lady Cougars improved to 4-6 overall.
“There are some games ahead of us that we’ve got a chance to win,” Poindexter concluded. “I would like to see this team fight and get back to .500 before district play. There’s definitely a chance of doing that. But once again, all of those are short term things. The main thing is a month from now, two months from now that we are working hard enough to be playing our best basketball by then.”
