Bay High girls blowout Corinth in 4A quarterfinals

JACKSON -- A tight contest turned into a blowout for Bay High as the Lady Tigers advanced to the Class 4A semifinals Thursday night with a decisive victory over Corinth

Bay High pulled away in the second half for a 60-38 victory at Jackson State to set up Monday's noon semifinal contest with Florence at the Mississippi Coliseum.

Bay High held just a 4-point lead at 32-28 midway through the third quarter, but that was as close as Corinth would get the rest of the way.

Eight points from Simone Jackson in the final 11 minutes helped the Lady Tigers close strong.

Triplett pointed to her team's ability to score on the fast break in the second half as a big contributor to the late surge.

"We got in our running game and got some easy baskets," Triplett said. "It seemed like that kind of turned us up a little bit. We had more confidence and played harder on defense. It allowed us to get a cushion being ahead a little bit. We were able to play a little more confident."

Corinth was no slouch in the frontcourt as it won the rebound battle, 28-24, but the 6-foot-1 Jackson proved tough to handle.

Jackson finished with 14 points and nine rebounds, showing nice speed with a couple of baskets in transition.

"We actually ran the court a lot," Jackson said. "We were running the offense and making them tired."

Junior guard Jamaya Galloway matched Jackson's game high of 14 points. She also grabbed six rebounds and dished out three assists.

Junior Amari Pittman also hit double digits for Bay High with 10 points.

Freshman guard Breanna Fountain was Bay High's best outside shooter, hitting 2-of-3 attempts on 3-pointers to finish with eight points.

"Nothing bothers her," Triplett said of Fountain. "She hit some big shots for us."

Junior Danielle Vince played some crucial minutes off the bench in the first half, pitching in seven points when scoring didn't some so easily for the Lady Tigers (24-6).

"We were getting in foul trouble and I had to take Dasha (Barnes) out early with three fouls," Triplett said. "I depend on her to rebound. She's a good rebounder and she helps Simone on the boards.

"(Vince) came in and hit some big shots for us."

Bay High shot 53.5 percent from the field while Corinth (17-11) hit just 30 percent of its shots.

Bay High seems to be much more at ease in Jackson compared to last year's team that lost 55-35 to Raymond in the 4A state title game.

"We don't get rattled," Triplett said. "With Simone and Jamaya, we have that inside-outside game. They're making so many plays between the two of them."

Che Curlee was the lone player to score in double figures for Corinth Thursday with 11 points.

This story was originally published March 3, 2016 at 9:30 PM with the headline "Bay High girls blowout Corinth in 4A quarterfinals ."