West Harrison eyes 5A state title after thumping Hattiesburg

JACKSON -- West Harrison's Ameshya Williams has committed to play basketball at Mississippi State and is respected as one of the state's top girls basketball players, but all she's focused on now is earning the state's top team honor.

"I just want the Gold Ball," Williams said Tuesday after her team's 53-39 win over Hattiesburg in the Class 5A semifinals

Williams and the rest of the Lady Hurricanes will play for the Class 5A state championship at 6:30 p.m. on Friday against Holmes County Central at the Mississippi Coliseum.

Holmes County Central is 29-1 after beating Lanier 43-39 on Tuesday in the other semifinal contest.

After falling behind 6-0 early in Tuesday's contest, West Harrison went on to dominate the rest of the way.

The 6-foot-3 Williams again finished with impressive numbers, scoring 20 points and grabbing 22 rebounds.

"She did all the things we needed her to do," West Harrison coach Otis Gates said. "She defended well in the post, she got rebounds. She scored when she had the opportunity even though she was double-teamed most of the ball game. She stayed out of foul trouble and that was very important for us."

West Harrison (25-2) dominated the rebounding battle Tuesday, doubling up Hattiesburg in the first half, 28-14, and holding a 49-26 advantage for the game.

The biggest advantage came on the offensive boards where West Harrison came out on top 22-11.

"That was a big part of the game," Williams said. "I was happy everybody blocked out and did what they were supposed to do. That was great because I didn't have to do it all."

Amari Graves, who filled in at point guard for the injured Deseree Moore, also had a double-double for West Harrison with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

Moore suffered burns on her legs during a grease fire Saturday and was unable to play Tuesday. She's recovering well from her injuries and was in attendance at Tuesday's game.

Graves had a game high of six assists.

"She played the point all last season so it wasn't a big change," Gates said. "The fact that we were here last year and she played point last year was big."

West Harrison played good defense again Tuesday, limiting Hattiesburg star guard Tamia Jones to 4 points on 2-of-9 shooting in the first half.

"When we can't get Tamia to score consistently, we're not going to beat anybody," Hattiesburg coach Caronica Debose Jackson said.

Jones finished with 23 points, but she was frustrated by the West Harrison defense all game long. She also struggled at the free throw line, making just 2-of-10.

"It was just a team effort," Gates said of the defense against Jones. "We were very conscience of wherever she was on the floor. The defensive game plan was to help out a lot with her. It wasn't just one person guarding her. We were helping and recovering and rotating."

Hattiesburg made just 4-of-18 free throws while West Harrison hit 15-of-21.

After Hattiesburg jumped out to 6-0 lead, West Harrison went on to outscore the Lady Tigers 26-10 the rest of the first half.

The closest Hattiesburg (26-5) got in the second half was 28-17 with 6:23 left in the third quarter.

Gates believes his team is peaking at the right time headed into Friday's title bout.

"It means the world (to play for the state title)," Gates said. " It's what we started out working for way back in April after the end of the season last year. We started working toward this and it's all going to come together Friday night."

This story was originally published March 8, 2016 at 3:38 PM with the headline "West Harrison eyes 5A state title after thumping Hattiesburg ."