The struggles of the Kirk Academy boys basketball program are well-documented. Wins have been few and far between.
Last week, the Raiders took part in the annual Kirk Academy Classic with Midsouth Association of Independent Schools from all over the state. What a difference winning games can do to confidence.
Coach Dave Matusiak’s club opened the tournament with a 38-28 win over Starkville Christian last Monday and edged Manchester 35-30 last Tuesday. The Raiders conclude tournament play last Wednesday, losing a 68-42 decision to Delta Streets Academy of Greenwood to end the tournament. Overall, Kirk is 2-12 heading into this week’s Canton Academy Invitational Tournament.
On the girls side, the Raiderettes also finished with a tournament mark of 2-1 following a 63-49 loss last Wednesday against Class AAAAA power Pillow Academy. Earlier in the tournament, KA won a 50-28 decision over Starkville Christian last Monday and a 52-11 victory over Manchester. With the games, Kirk is 14-4 on the season.
Manchester
Against the Class AAA Mavericks, the Raiders used active play on the defensive end of the court to set the offense up to score.
“We went with a little different lineup against Manchester to matchup better with them,” Matusiak said. “Defensively, we got our hands into passing lanes forcing them into mistakes. On offense, we were able to get some key baskets executing our offense. This team needed something good to happen and we were able to pick up some wins in the Kirk Classic.”
Kirk led the Mavericks from Yazoo City 11-2 at the end of the first quarter. They maintained that nine-point advantage, leading 16-7 at halftime. The Raiders used an 11-4 third quarter to lead 27-11 with a quarter to play and struggled with five points in the final five minutes to get the win.
Junior Blake Mattox paced all scorers with 15 points. Senior Cole Bailey and Noah Jackson both had five points. Caleb Connerley had four points and Taylor Leverette finished with two points. Alex Flautt scored one point.
Starkville Christian
The Raiders rallied from a 14-12 halftime deficit to the Cougars from Starkville using a 16-5 fourth quarter to come away with the win.
Jackson paced Kirk with 12 points and Mattox finished with 10 points. Bailey scored six points and Leverette finished with four points. Riley Rea, Andy Redwine and Connerley all scored two points apiece.
Delta Streets
The Lions from Greenwood raced to a 21-12 first period advantage and never looked back in the contest. Kirk trailed 35-14 at halftime.
Mattox led the Raiders with 12 points while Bailey scored eight points. Jackson, Leverette, McWhorter and Redwine scored four points apiece. Rea, Connerley and Flautt each scored two points apiece.
Girls
The Raiderettes face one of the top teams in Class AAAAA in the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools last Wednesday. Kirk led by as many as four points in the opening quarter, only to see the Lady Mustangs rally to lead 35-32 at halftime.
In the second half, Kirk’s offensive production was less than half as Pillow took control to win a 63-49 decision.
“I thought we competed,” Kirk coach David Montgomery said. “We played a really good first half – just a couple of things here or there. The second half they killed us on the backboards getting a lot of second chance shots. We didn’t handle the half court trap like we should have handled it. Offensively, we didn’t score enough points in the second half.”
Molly Lane gave Kirk an early 9-4 lead with a three-pointer with 4:54 left in the opening quarter. Pillow came right back to tie the game 9-9. Grace Defenbaugh’s bucket at the buzzer gave the Raiderettes a 17-14 lead at the end of the first quarter.
An 8-0 Lady Mustang run gave Pillow a 22-17 lead two minutes deep into the second quarter. Two Charley Rose free throws ended a 2:15 scoring drought as KA got within 22-19 with 5:44 left in the half.
Pillow ran the margin back to eight points at 27-19 with 5:01 left in the quarter. Two free throws and a bucket from Rose to go with an Abby Beissel bucket cut the deficit to 27-25. The Raiderettes were as close as 29-28 in the first half following two free from Beissel with 2:10 left in the half.
Kirk saw the game begin to slip away in the third quarter as Pillow took a three-point halftime lead to 10 points at the end of the third quarter. Lane had the lone field goal in the third period as the Raiderettes trailed 47-37 at the end of the third quarter.
Pillow continued to pull away in the final period leading by as many as 18 points at 60-42 with 3:16 left in the contest.
Rose led the Raiderettes with 15 points and Lane added 13 points. Beissel finished with 10 points. K.K. Bailey scored five points and Defenbaugh finished with four points. Alanna Hodo paced Pillow Academy with 15 points.
Kirk was scheduled to take part in the Canton Academy Christmas Tournament Wednesday. Both teams are scheduled to play Leake Wednesday at 3 p.m. for the girls and 4:30 p.m. for the boys. The tournament concludes Thursday with games against Washington School set for 9 and 10:30 a.m.
Manchester
Lane paced three starters in double figures with 17 points. Beissel had 13 points and Bailey finished with 10 points. Sophie Brister scored six points and Rose added four points. Charlee Sultan rounded out the scoring with two points.
Starkville Christian
Kirk jumped to a 17-5 lead after the opening quarter of play and never looked back after that.
Beissel paced the Raiderettes with 16 points and Lane finished with 13 points. Bailey scored eight points and Rose chipped in seven points.
