Here’s what happened when Harrison Central met Olive Branch in the 6A Final Four
After fighting to a double-overtime victory in the Class 6A quarterfinals on Saturday, the Harrison Central Red Rebelettes didn’t have quite enough gas to get out of the semifinals Wednesday.
Olive Branch topped Harrison Central 65-49 in the MHSAA state semifinals at the Mississippi Coliseum, setting up a battle with the winner of Meridian-Clinton in the 6A title game at The Pavilion on the Oxford campus of Ole Miss at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
Olive Branch senior Endya Buford, a 5-4 guard who signed with Memphis in November, proved to be unstoppable, pouring in 35 points and pulling down seven rebounds to lead the way for the Conquistadors (23-6). Buford hit 11 of 21 attempts from the field, including three of eight on 3-pointers, and nailed 10 of 11 free throws.
“She’s a great player,” Harrison Central coach Nancy Ladner said. “You have to hand it to her and you have to respect her.”
Harrison Central (27-5) cut Olive Branch’s to 51-46 on a quick 8-0 run to start the fourth following De’Asia Booker’s layup with 6:32 remaining.
Unlike Saturday’s 76-73 win over Pearl in Biloxi, the Red Rebelettes couldn’t keep up the rally as Olive Branch answered with its own 12-0 run to put the game out of reach at 63-46 with 3:05 remaining.
Harrison Central, which has 13 girls basketball state titles, is still seeking its first state championship since 2005 and the disappointment was obvious with plenty of tears shed outside the locker room.
“Tonight, we didn’t play with the toughness we need to play with,” Ladner said. “(Olive Branch) played an excellent game. They played a perfect game. Tonight, we battled at points, but we didn’t battle for 32 minutes. They played with toughness and we didn’t. That was the difference in the game. When you lose the last game, it’s just tough.”
Harrison Central had issues with Olive Branch’s full-court press in the first half, turning it over 17 times. The Red Rebelettes finished with 19 turnovers compared to the Conquistadors’ eight.
“We did the same thing against Pearl, but we battled and we played with toughness and battled with grit,” Ladner siad. “Tonight, we didn’t do the same.”
Six-foot-1 sophomore center Laila Walker proved to be the main bright spot for the Red Rebelettes with 20 rebounds and 11 points. Senior point guard De’Aisa Booker also had a double-double, scoring 13 and grabbing 11 boards.
The Red Rebelettes appear to be set up well for the 2020-21 season with only two seniors, Booker and Shayla Price, among the eight who played Wednesday night.
“We’ve got a lot of young ones coming back,” Ladner said. “We’ve just got to step it up in toughness. The inexperience kind of shows. That’s something to work on, but we’ll get back to the drawing board in a couple of days.”
