Lady Aggies go cold, fall in 3A semis
Mar. 1—JACKSON — When the 3-pointers stopped falling, Kossuth was in trouble.
The Lady Aggies went cold from outside in the second half and fell to Forest, 47-39, in the Class 3A state semifinals on Wednesday at the Mississippi Coliseum. Forest will face Booneville for the championship at 1 p.m. Saturday.
After making 6 of 13 from behind the arc in the first half, Kossuth (18-12) was 2 of 14 in the second half.
"Forest is a good basketball team. They are really athletic, they're really long," Kossuth coach Rick Hodum said. "They picked it up on the defensive end. They made it hard for us in the half-court. It was tough getting some open looks there."
The teams were tied 22-22 at halftime, but Forest (25-6) surged ahead behind the play of senior guard Kelviana Parhm. She scored eight points in the third quarter, and the Bearcats took a 38-33 lead into the fourth.
Parhm finished with 13 points.
The Lady Aggies stayed within striking distance in the fourth, with a steal and layup by Anna Greene cutting Forest's lead to 43-39 at the 2:05 mark. That's as close as they got.
Dacy Kate Marsh led Kossuth with 18 points and made 6 of 13 from behind the arc. Forward Mikayla Holifield scored a game-high 20 points for Forest.
This was Hodum's first season leading Kossuth, which was in the semifinals for the third time in the last five years.
"When I came in in June and told them the system we were going to try running, they never second-guessed it," he said. "They never questioned it. They just got to work."
Three-Pointers
Turning Point: Forest went on a 12-2 run that started in the third quarter and extended into the fourth.
Point Maker: Holifield was 7 of 11 from the field and 6 of 9 at the free throw line.
Talking Point: ""She's plenty athletic, a right-handed slashing guard. I don't know if her best attribute is getting to the rim, going out to mid-range or the 3-ball. She's one of the best players we've played this year." — Hodum, on Parhm
