Rebounding may be the most important statistic in basketball.
It turned out to be the undoing for the Kirk Academy Raiderettes in their opening round game against Class AAAA Jackson Academy in the Midsouth Association of Independent Schools Overall Basketball Tournament at Mississippi College in Clinton last Wednesday night. The Lady Raiders outrebounded Kirk 45-21 and limited the Raiderettes to 24 percent shooting en route to a 49-33 victory.
“They did outstanding job on the boards,” Kirk head coach Josh Zeitz said. “Their size advantage enabled them to get a lot of second chance opportunities, which included 19 offensive rebounds.”
Jackson Academy, which improved to 20-12 with the win, limited KA senior leader Charley Rose to just 8 shot attempts and 9 points.
“Going into the game, we needed to shoot the basketball well from the outside because we felt like they would try to limit our penetration to the basket,” Zeitz said. “We struggled to make shots. Give them credit, they were faster, stronger and more physical than us.”
Jackson Academy led the game 10-8 at the end of the first quarter. The Lady Raiders used a 9-0 run to open the second quarter, increasing their lead to 19-8. Kirk ended a scoring drought of 4:30 in the second quarter, when senior Cecile Brister hit a three-pointer with 3:28 left in the half to close the deficit to 19-11.
The Lady Raiders scored 7 of the final 10 points of the half to lead 26-14 at halftime. Kirk managed finished the opening half 4-of-22 from the field.
Kirk got as close as 32-23 following a Parker Avant free throw with 4:23 left in the third quarter. The Raiderettes managed just a three-pointer from Cecile Brister, trailing 40-26 after three quarters.
Jackson Academy outscored Kirk 9-7 in the fourth quarter to account for the final margin.
Senior Charlee Grace Sultan led Kirk with 13 points and 8 rebounds on 4-of-8 shooting from behind the three-point line. Classmates Charley Rose finished 3-for-8 from the field scoring 9 points to go with 3 rebounds and 4 assists and Cecile Brister was 2-of-7 shooting scoring 6 points. Senior Parker Avant struggled from the field shooting 1-of-14 from the field for 3 points to go with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Freshman Joleigh Sultan had 2 points on 1-of-6 shooting.
Junior Mylee Maurer scored 14 points and had 7 rebounds to lead Jackson Academy. Senior Aubrey Chambers finished with 13 points and 9 rebounds and junior Avery Buchanan scored 7 points and pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds.
