St. Martin powers past Columbus to reach 6A Girls Semifinals

JACKSON --Savannah Jones supplied the offense and Daphne White the defense, leading St. Martin to a 67-56 win over Columbus in the 6A quarterfinals Saturday at Jackson State University.

The Lady Jackets will play Callaway in the semifinals at noon Wednesday at the Mississippi Coliseum. St. Martin beat Callaway 58-41 in November.

Jones, a 6-foot senior, scored 36 points on 8 of 13 shooting from the floor and 18 of 21 from the line. White, a 6-4 sophomore, had nine blocks before fouling out with four and a half minutes left and continually thwarted attempts by Columbus to score inside.

A spurt at the start of each half helped St Martin. The Lady Jackets scored the first nine points of the game and the first 12 of the second half to stretch a 10-point half time lead to 44-22.

St. Martin (28-2) has won 15 in a row.

The Lady Jackets biggest lead was 23 at 52-29 late in the third quarter. Columbus scored the final three points of the period and the first six of the fourth quarter, using a full court press to stifle the St. Martin offense.

"It's the first time we faced a press," said St. Martin coach Gina Bell. "Give Columbus credit. They ran it well."

Bell said breaking the press will be a priority in practice prior to the Callaway game.

The closest Columbus came in the final period was nine points. Jones kept her team ahead, scoring 13 of St. Martin's 15 points during the period, including 11 free throws.

Jones, a South Alabama signee, said she takes 150 to 200 free throws each day in practice, but hadn't always been so good from the line.

"I had to work at it."

This story was originally published March 5, 2016 at 9:46 PM with the headline "St. Martin powers past Columbus to reach 6A Girls Semifinals ."