Lady Arrows fall just slightly short in semifinals to Meridian

By Danny C. Davis

The Clinton High Lady Arrows fell just a few points short to Meridian on March 2, falling 55-50 in the MHSAA Class 6A semifinals at the Mississippi Coliseum. The Lady Arrows finished the season 21-8, winning fourteen of their final eighteen games and upsetting Germantown for the district championship and Desoto Central and Horn Lake in the playoffs.

Clinton had lost to Meridian during the regular season, 62-41, on December 10. This time, it was much closer, though. In fact, the Lady Arrows held the lead for three quarters. CHS led 13-10 at the end of the first quarter, 25-22 at the half, and 32-31 going into the final period. But the Lady Wildcats’ 6’0” senior forward DeBreasha Powe was just too much to defend in the final quarter.

Meridian outscored the Lady Arrows 24-18 in the final eight minutes to advance to the championship game. Meridian led by one point, 51-50, with just a few minutes left, but a turnover by Clinton gave the ball to Powe, a Mississippi State signee, whose shot put the Lady Wildcats ahead 53-50; and the Lady Arrows didn’t score again.

“I am so proud of the girls and the season we had,” said third-year Lady Arrows head coach Pearline Fairley. “We had some big wins this season over good teams like Olive Branch, Tupelo, Horn Lake, Desoto Central, and defeated Germantown for the district championship,” said Fairley.

“We played our best basketball the last five or six games and bonded well as a team. The girls played hard and never quit.”

“We are losing a lot of seniors who scored a lot,” said Fairly. “About forty percent of our scoring is graduating.”

“We’ll get back to work, lifting the weights and playing summer league ball and doing summer camps, to get ready for next year. We have a good ninth grade group coming up, and with our up-tempo style of play, we should be very good again next year.”