Natchez girls take care of business at home, win 66-40

Published 12:04 am Saturday, January 17, 2015

Natchez High School’s Ernesha Chatman takes a shot against Wingfield High School Friday. Natchez won the game 66-40, giving multiple players the opportunity to see the floor in the win. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

Natchez High School’s Ernesha Chatman takes a shot against Wingfield High School Friday. Natchez won the game 66-40, giving multiple players the opportunity to see the floor in the win. (Sam Gause / The Natchez Democrat)

NATCHEZ — Natchez High head coach Alphaka Moore stepped onto the court and lined her team up in a set formation.

The Lady Bulldogs were up 25-2 against Wingfield and a timeout had just been called, but Moore continued to coach.

“There are some things that you can’t write on a board for kids to understand,” she said. “They have to physically go through it to understand what their role is in that moment.”

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The Lady Bulldogs understood their roles Friday night as they rolled past Wingfield 66-40.

Moore would eventually pull her starters, but not before the team jumped out to an early 20-2 lead.

“They didn’t do bad,” said Moore of her starting five. “I’m never going to tell them they did good because we are working on great.”

Zyaire Ewing led the Lady Bulldogs with 13 points and teammates Destiny Lyles and Kirdis Clark chipped in with nine apiece.

Nearly every Natchez High player got minutes and nearly every player found themselves in the scoring column.

“Getting everyone game experience is good because sometimes they don’t get a chance to get it,” Moore said. “There are going to be times down the road where they will have to step in and play a big role, and this is preparing them for that.”

Moore said her team knew what they would be going up against (Friday) in a Wingfield team that had yet to win a game, but she said that keeping focus wasn’t an issue.

“We just try to keep the mindset we have every game,” Moore said. “Although we know the opponent, we try to have the same goal as the game before.”

After jumping out to the early lead, Natchez cruised the rest of the way, with the starting five only getting a few minutes of playing time.